The new College of Natural Sciences
On Tuesday, May 19, the Provost announced that Steve Goodwin, the then current Dean of the College of Natural Resources and the Environment (NRE), would become Dean of the newly formed College of Natural Sciences (CNS), effective September 1. The new college consists of all departments from the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM), five departments and several programs from the College of NRE, and the Psychology Department from the College of Social and Behavioral Science (SBS).
"The integration of the life science and environmental science departments and programs with the physical sciences in a new College of Natural Sciences is a terrific opportunity to strengthen the campus' current position and promote growth and collaboration, especially in the new science building planned for 2012," says Jim Kurose, former Interim Dean of NSM and now Executive Associate Dean in CNS . "The new college will be well equipped to advance broad, cross-cutting interdisciplinary initiatives across campus and to invigorate the development of larger institutes and centers." The creation of the new college is part of Chancellor Robert Holub's strategic framework for elevating "UMass Amherst to the ranks of the very best public research universities in the country.
The College of Natural Sciences will have 377 tenure-track faculty members and nearly 6000 undergraduate majors. In 2008, the departments that comprise the new college garnered more than $81 million in research awards in 2008.
Departments, Schools, and Programs in the new College of Natural Sciences
From NRE:
- Food Science
- Microbiology
- Natural Resources Conservation
- Plant, Soil and Insect Sciences
- Veterinary and Animal Sciences
From NSM:
- Astronomy
- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Computer Science
- Geosciences
- Mathematics and Statistics
- Physics
- Polymer Science and Engineering
From SBS:
Schools and Programs
- Stockbridge School of Agriculture
- Environmental Science
- MA Agricultural Experiment Station
Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs in Life Sciences (Molecular and Cell Biology; Neuroscience and Behavior, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology; and Plant Biology)
