The Forestry component of the SFWP has two distinct groups within the staff. One group is supported by General Fund resources, and supports the administrative and technical needs of the School. This group includes the office and support staff (e.g., training specialist and advancement officer) of the Dean. The computer systems administrator is paid from lab fees and research contracts, while the FFC staff are paid from Center revenues. The other category of staff is research personnel, who are primarily supported by external research grants.

One strength of the SFWP is our excellent staff, who do their jobs well; this has produced a comfortable work situation where turnover has generally been very low. Other strengths include

• generally good working relationships and open communication with the administration and faculty,
• inclusion in the self-governance of the School by attendance and full voting rights on nearly all issues at faculty and staff meetings,
• close and positive interactions with both undergraduate and graduate students,
• the opportunity for flexibility in both job duties and work schedules,
• some expenses and time are provided for professional training and seminars,
• the opportunity to take MTU classes without tuition,
• good technical support for office equipment questions and problems, and
• recently purchased office furniture and equipment, which the involved staff helped choose.

Weaknesses associated with this goal include a feeling of concern about job security. The 1991 retrenchment at MTU resulted in the elimination of 62 staff positions, while tenure-track faculty were protected. Several positions were eliminated in the IWR and the FFC. In addition, reduced funding available at the federal level, may result in job loss for soft-money staff members.The proposed modification of organizational structure for the SFWP also causes some uncertainty, particularly for staff who may be shifted to a new position and/or supervisor. Another concern is a feeling that little appreciation is shown for their efforts.

Additional resources for training and professional development, opportunities to become more directly involved in the educational and research missions of the School, and the new building, which will add space and relieve congestion, will all benefit staff.

University Goal 6: Provide Comprehensive Information Technology Services.

The SFWP has developed many strengths in this area since the last NCA accreditation. We began operation of a new computer lab for use by undergraduate and graduate students during fall quarter of 1995. We have 28 personal computers (PCs) and 5 Sun SPARC stations in the lab, all of which are networked. This facility is paid for by student lab fees. The PCs are used for nearly every class taught in Forestry, with applications ranging from word processing and spreadsheets to specialized scientific software, while the Suns are used in one undergraduate class (Remote Sensing) and several graduate classes. The PCs and Suns are both used for graduate research. We offer our own computer class, which satisfies the University's general education requirement in computing. This facility provides access by our students to the WWW and e-mail; WWW pages are used in several classes to transfer information to students. The SFWP also maintains a web site. A smaller computer facility is maintained at the FFC for teaching Fall Camp programs.

The lab is maintained by a full-time systems administrator, with some duties assigned to two student assistants. Oversight of these facilities rests with an elected Computer Committee, which sets policy and budgets, and a faculty member who serves part-time as Director of Computing. The Director implements policy, administers the budget, and supervises the systems administrator.

A historical weakness has been the lack of a policy and resources to support updating of faculty computer equipment. All faculty and most staff currently have computers with network access, but some of the equipment is badly outdated. In 1996/7, MTU provided $800 per faculty member for faculty computing. The Computer Committee allocated $250 to each faculty member and the rest to a general pool to replace faculty computers. It is uncertain whether this program will continue, or these funds can be carried over and accumulated for major purchases. Start-up funds for new faculty generally provide a new computer, but upgrading or replacement of computers has generally been accomplished with soft money or our annual professional-development fund. While the increased capability of new computers is an opportunity, the cost of keeping at the state-of-the-art in data and information processing is a distinct threat because it places serious demands on already-stretched budgets.

A distinct strength of the SFWP is a state-of-the-art remote-sensing geographic-information-systems (GIS) computer lab. It has been funded primarily by research contracts, with some equipment purchased by start-up funds. The lab is maintained and supervised by a GIS analyst, also paid from soft money. This computer facility is used by many graduate students from other units on campus, and is a critical component to the MTU Initiative on the Environment.

The library represents a distinct weakness, especially for graduate and faculty research programs. It ranges from marginally sufficient to clearly deficient over the range of disciplines in the SFWP. We do receive a modest annual allocation of $4800 from the library for new acquisitions, but cannot apply that to new journals because of the required ongoing commitment of funds. The number of forestry journal subscriptions which the library receives was reduced in the last decade, and subsequent new funds have not even returned the library to previous levels for our program. One associated strength for the SFWP is a targeted endowment which provides funds to purchase forestry books for the library; an associated weakness is that these funds have been redirected by the library to cover journal-subscription costs in recent years.

University Goal 7: Develop the MTU Campus and Continuously Maintain the Physical Plant.

The most critical weakness for the Forestry program across all goals is a severe shortage of suitable space and equipment. As reported by the visiting team during the last NCA accreditation:

The graduate program, with 30 MS and 6 Ph.D. students, is progressing well towards the projected enrollments. If it continues to grow as desired and anticipated, physical resources will be strained. Graduate students need more than classroom support. Office and lab space will need to be provided, and existing facilities are already inadequate.

Our current facility was built to support an undergraduate program, and the transition to active faculty research programs and an extensive graduate program have made it clearly insufficient. There is a deficit of suitable laboratory space even after many teaching areas have been converted to labs. We have provided temporary relief from the space problem by securing the use of two houses near the School, renting some space from the Forest Service unit on campus, and purchasing three trailers to provide research (primarily graduate student offices) and teaching spaces; these areas are inadequate for all of the intended uses. Unfortunately, the only net increase in space since the last NCA accreditation has been in these houses and temporary buildings. An opportunity for the SFWP is a planned addition to the Forestry building to address the space shortage. This opportunity has associated threats that include the final approval of the State's 75% contribution for construction costs and the requirement to raise the additional 25% from sources other than the state or MTU. An associated strength is the School’s addition of an advancement officer to its staff to motivate and facilitate fundraising.

Classroom space is a critical concern, especially for the undergraduate program. Although classrooms are controlled and allocated centrally at MTU, the Forestry building is physically separated from the main campus; this makes it very desirable to have our classes held in our building. Conversion of space to research and computer labs has left only one traditional teaching classroom in the building. One of the trailers has a large lecture room, but poor and noisy climate control and a shortage of blackboard space make it a difficult room in which to teach or learn. The proposed addition is an opportunity to correct this problem. The IWR also has some specific needs for wood products teaching and research. We do have a coordinator to assure compliance with OSHA/biohazard procedures.

Nonetheless, since the last NCA accreditation in 1988, there has been extensive remodeling of the Forestry building to improve its appearance, especially in common areas. Hardwood floors were refinished, areas were repainted and carpeted, and original artwork (wood-panel carvings and paintings) have been contributed to the School from a variety of sources. The School now provides a very positive initial impression to visitors, and it is a more pleasant place to work, learn, and teach. This is a distinct strength of the School. Extensive remodeling has also converted the use and improved the utility of some areas (e.g., computer lab, remote-sensing/GIS lab, plant biotechnology labs, and a greenhouse).

The FFC is also a strength. This facility is located in Alberta, about 42 miles south of MTU's main campus. There are also several residences in Alberta under the control of the SFWP. An adjacent research forest with 4500 acres is managed by the SFWP, with the primary goal being to support the teaching and research missions of the School.. FFC provides dormitory and conference-center facilities, and is used for our Fall Camp and many other activities. Associated equipment such as trucks and pickups are also available at FFC for teaching and research uses.

University Goal 8: Provide a Stable Financial Environment and Enhance Resource Acquisition.

Our greatest strength in this area is the high per-capita external research funding (see Goal 4). Much of the faculty's research activity and travel would be impossible without external grants, and these funds support the entire graduate program and have paid for a great deal of equipment and facility renovation. These funds are also critical to the undergraduate student body because they provide

• opportunities for summer and school-year employment,
• opportunities for hands-on experience working in research, and
• access to equipment in undergraduate laboratories which would not normally be available except for research projects.

The opportunity provided by the proposed addition to the SFWP has provided a focus for fundraising by the School, with the recent partial funding of an advancement position within the SFWP being a strength. Other strengths are that the School has had an advisory board for several years, and it has recently initiated an honor academy of individual alumni and persons who have contributed to making the SFWP an excellent institution. We have several endowed scholarships and are aggressively trying to secure additional scholarship funding (see the Goal 1.2).

A weakness of the School is that our historically strong ties with alumni and industry have not resulted in more direct financial support to the School. Our creation of two advisory committees, one for the SFWP and another for IWR, has created a mechanism to mobilize this support. These committees are made up of representatives from government, the Forest Service, and industry and will provide assistance in many forms and in many areas.

A weakness associated with the 1% realignment was discussed under Goal 2. As noted under Goals 3 and 4, accelerating competition for private and government resources is a threat.

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