(14) Areas of Excellence – Integrating Extension into the University Mission

Brian K. Miller¹, and Robert K. Swihart
Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana

¹Current address: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois

Concurrent Session: A2:  Opportunities for Extension

Discovery, Learning and Engagement are at the core of the land grant mission.  Ideally, all should be facets of an integrated process designed to meet over-arching goals and achieve measurable impacts in solving the problems of today.  Yet all too often each operates independently with only occasional crossing of paths.  While individual extension faculty and staff are encouraged to focus programs to achieve various levels of impact (i.e., the logic model), this process is often missing at a department level.  Thus, we asked recently whether by collectively addressing a select set of issues as interdisciplinary teams we might achieve greater impact.

After careful consideration of our strengths and interests, we identified three areas – Sustainable Hardwood Ecosystems, Partnering for Land Use Sustainability, and Ecological Genetics.  These “Areas of Excellence” are devoted to synergistic, interdisciplinary activities that unify and integrate departmental research and extension interests and expertise.  We will use the Sustainable Hardwood Ecosystems and Partnering for Land Use Systems areas as examples of a process that other universities could adopt in addressing ecological, economic, and social aspects of natural resource management that otherwise could not be achieved on an individual basis.

Brian J. MacGowan
Department of Forestry and Natural Resources
Purdue University
715 West State Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
Phone: 765-647-3538
Fax: 765-647-4150
Email: macgowan@purdue.edu