2008 Woodie Awards
Plattsburgh State first SUNY school to establish ecology bachelor's degree
Leanna-Marie Robertson
Issue date: 4/20/07 Section: News
Originally published: 4/19/07 at 4:17 PM EST
Last update: 4/19/07 at 4:17 PM EST
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Plattsburgh State is the very first school in the SUNY system to establish a Bachelor of Science degree in ecology.
The major, originally proposed by Associate Professor Timothy Mihuc, of the earth and environmental science department, and Associate Professor Neil Buckley, of the biological science department, will help provide students with a more focused study on ecology.
Mihuc said there are many options within state, federal and natural resource agencies for career opportunities in ecology.
It will help prepare students for graduate study in ecology and pursue jobs as natural history interpreters, land managers and wetland scientists.
Dean of Arts and Sciences and Biological Sciences Professor Kathleen Lavoie said the major was started by a group of interested faculty members from both the earth and environmental science and biological science departments.
"Students in the major are specifically trained for a career in ecology," Lavoie said.
She said the new major emphasizes the interaction of organisms with their environment.
"It focuses more on the organismal scale and less on chemical and molecular aspects," Lavoie said. "It best prepares students to enter graduate programs in ecology."
The co-chairs of the curriculum development committee, Mihuc and Buckley, were responsible for getting the major approved at the state level.
Mihuc said the opportunity for study in ecology was available as an environmental science study option for two years.
Due to student feedback and interest, he and the other faculty members of the development committee sought to get the degree approved as a new major.
"There was an open niche where students could get a background in ecology courses but could not take ecology as a major," Mihuc said.
Mihuc, who is also the coordinator of the Lake Champlain Research Institute (LCRI), said research had been conducted in ecology long before the inception of this new major.
The major, originally proposed by Associate Professor Timothy Mihuc, of the earth and environmental science department, and Associate Professor Neil Buckley, of the biological science department, will help provide students with a more focused study on ecology.
Mihuc said there are many options within state, federal and natural resource agencies for career opportunities in ecology.
It will help prepare students for graduate study in ecology and pursue jobs as natural history interpreters, land managers and wetland scientists.
Dean of Arts and Sciences and Biological Sciences Professor Kathleen Lavoie said the major was started by a group of interested faculty members from both the earth and environmental science and biological science departments.
"Students in the major are specifically trained for a career in ecology," Lavoie said.
She said the new major emphasizes the interaction of organisms with their environment.
"It focuses more on the organismal scale and less on chemical and molecular aspects," Lavoie said. "It best prepares students to enter graduate programs in ecology."
The co-chairs of the curriculum development committee, Mihuc and Buckley, were responsible for getting the major approved at the state level.
Mihuc said the opportunity for study in ecology was available as an environmental science study option for two years.
Due to student feedback and interest, he and the other faculty members of the development committee sought to get the degree approved as a new major.
"There was an open niche where students could get a background in ecology courses but could not take ecology as a major," Mihuc said.
Mihuc, who is also the coordinator of the Lake Champlain Research Institute (LCRI), said research had been conducted in ecology long before the inception of this new major.
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