 Left to Right: James C. Cato, Senior Associate Dean and Director;
Stephen S. Mulkey, Director of Research and Outreach/Extension Programs; Stephen R. Humphrey, Director of Academic Programs
Photo/Patricia Casey
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PerspectivesPrograms Show Strong Growth
The winter months in Florida have been very busy for SNRE management.
Graduate enrollment climbed to an all-time high of 118 for the fall semester of
2005. For the first time, there are more doctoral students (54 percent of the total)
than master's students. We have also been able to increase the number of financial
partnerships with colleges and departments. This has led to more jointly funded
assistantships and fellowships to support graduate program growth. The quality of the
incoming students remains high, and they continue to come from top-rated universities
to enter SNRE graduate programs.
About 40 percent of our graduate students receive
financial support from SNRE, another 40 percent from grants and contracts secured by
faculty extramural research proposals, and the remaining 20 percent are self-funded.
We are also pleased to report that undergraduate enrollment increased to 96 during Fall 2005,
up from 80 the previous year. This has reversed a downward trend of the last few years.
Our challenge now is to sustain this level of student support. Continued growth will only
be possible through additional financial resources.
We are also pleased about our progress in the development of programs related to land use
dynamics in Florida, as reported elsewhere in this newsletter. We are partnering with New College
of Florida in the proposed creation of a Land Use Institute and have created an interdisciplinary
faculty work group on-campus to help us design a land use program. The goal is to create a program
that will provide science-based alternatives for policy-makers, state and local agencies, and the
private sector to consider as they make decisions on how to move forward in a sustainable way as
Florida continues its rapid rate of development.
SNRE has completed another major effort since the fall with its first strategic plan, called
"Action Plan-2006-2011." The plan is available on the SNRE Web site
(SNRE Action Plan 2006-2011  )
and will provide our guidance over the coming years. While it is for specific years, it is a
"living" document and will be continually updated. The action plan lays out our strategic goals and
contains specific goals and actions for our entire academic, research, and outreach/Extension programs
and provides an estimate of the resources needed to achieve these goals. We are currently working on
an implementation plan.
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