Time does fly here in the School of Natural Resources. This is my third installment of the Alumni Newsletter since arriving here in 2013. The past year has been an exciting time in SNR with changes occurring at what seems to be an ever-quickening pace. The changes here have been good ones with consistent support from the university and state. For those who follow higher education, we are definitely in a good place here in Nebraska.
This year was a watershed one for hiring new faculty in SNR. We are still in the midst of it, but so far we have done very well. This past fall, Troy Gilmore and Jesse Korus joined us in the area of water science. Chris Chizinski started in October, and his area of interest is human dimensions of natural resources. Liz Van Wormer was offered a joint position in VetMed and SNR where she will coordinate One Health efforts for IANR. Jenny Dauer moved from the professor of practice track to tenure track in the science literacy program. In January, we were very lucky to get most of the appointment of Bob Zink, who is very well known for his work on avian systematics. He is also partially in SBS and the museum where he will work to strengthen our ties.
Coming on board in the near future are John Gamon who will work in the area of remote sensing and will supervise the airplane program; Jamilynn Poletto, a fish physiologist; and Tiffany Messer, who will have a partial appointment with SNR as a water engineer. John Benson also has accepted a position as a vertebrate ecologist, and Becky Buller has accepted a professor of practice position and will serve as the advisor for our undergraduate geography program.
Other positions in the works include an environmental geographer, Great Plains forester, spatial science scientist, pedologist, climate risk and adaptation scientist, limnologist, and private lands wildlife scientist. Like I said, exciting times.
Programmatically we established a new Nebraska State Climate Office. We believed that this layer focusing on a Nebraska constituency would allow us to better serve the state, and Martha Shulski took on the role as director in January. The climate office will begin unrolling its web presence this summer.
SNR also had a program review this year, and it highlighted areas where we need to work very hard over the next five years. Key areas included diversifying our faculty, streamlining and updating our teaching program, and doing a better job of reaching out to our alumni, friends, and constituents.
It has been a busy year, but one with a range of outcomes that continues to strengthen our position locally, nationally and internationally.
-- John Carroll, director
More details at: http://go.unl.edu/rmot