The UA's faculty-staff weekly newsletter, LoQuePasa, offered this update on the the new School of Earth and Environmental Sciences that will unite six campus units from within the College of Science and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Five of the units are in the College of Science: the departments of atmospheric sciences, geosciences, and hydrology and water resources, plus the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research and the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory. The sixth is the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' department of soil, water and environmental science.
Karl Flessa [right], chair of the Geosciences Dept, will head up the new School. Karl said he used a "federation" model in his proposal for the new school, which does not merge or eliminate any programs.
Individual units will not see eliminations of positions or significant changes in daily operations as a result of the reorganization, and degree offerings will remain the same, Karl said. However, there is discussion about developing a new interdepartmental undergraduate major focused on earth and environmental sciences as well.