CEREO is born. After a two-year gestation, the Center for Environmental Research, Education and Outreach was approved by the Faculty Senate in April.
More than 100 WSU faculty members have expressed a wish to affiliate with CEREO. Keith Blatner,professor of natural resource sciences, chaired the 15-member faculty committee that birthed the center. Emmett Fiske, professor of community and rural sociology, facilitated countless meetings of the committee, which included members of academic departments in five colleges.
Blatner may not be passing out cigars, but he is proud of the new creation.
“At many universities, there is a strong focal point for environment work,” he says. “But WSU has a more disaggregated structure, with environmental programs spread throughout the university. We have missed out on a lot — with prospective students and faculty and with funded programs — because we were not organized in a way that is very visible.
“WSU had no central contact point for environmental issues on campus, and that is part of what CEREO will provide,” he added.
To accomplish its mission, the center defines environmental issues and activities broadly and encourages the involvement of anyone within the WSU system whose work includes environmental issues.
“We want to be as inclusive as possible,” Blatner says. “We want representation from all possible colleges and campuses and extension units. And we want to include not only faculty, but also graduate students and staff whose work involves an environmental focus.”
Blatner smiles when asked about the future of CEREO. “I’m very optimistic that the center will work.
“This was a faculty-initiated process,” he said. “There was a broad recognition of the need for this kind of center and broad support for our work. The committee spent two years designing it and, in the end, the provost funded it. I think our center will be very successful.”
Environmental center’s five major goals:
• Establish an administrative structure to facilitate high-quality environmental research and collaboration.
• Promote interdisciplinary grant proposals for environmental research and outreach.
• Coordinate both research and education with diverse stakeholder communities.
• Develop a nationally and internationally recognized environmental program involving teaching and research.
• Provide a common informational resource for prospective students.
CEREO wants you
Join the CEREO e-mail list to receive news of seminars, grant opportunities and other related topics.
Also, the center is seeking a faculty member to become the interim director. This person will manage activities and coordinate a national search for a permanent director, who will assume the position in July 2007.
Sign up and get more information at https://nrs.wsu.edu/cereo/invite.htm.
