SCHOOL OF FORESTRY REORGANIZES

The Michigan Tech School of Forestry and Wood Products has reorganized, adding an associate dean to its administrative structure and discontinuing its Institute of Wood Research.

Dean of Forestry Ed Frayer said long-time MTU faculty member Glenn Mroz has been appointed Associate Dean of Forestry, with major responsibilities regarding curriculum development and faculty supervision. An MTU alumnus, Mroz received B.S. and M.S. degrees from Michigan Tech before earning a Ph.D from North Carolina State.

"Glenn brings a wealth of relevant experience to his new position," said Frayer. "He was the School's coordinator for our environmental studies of the Navy's ELF communications project, managing both personnel and finances, and he has been the program coordinator for our forest ecology and management program as well. In the latter capacity, he was involved in supervising the majority of our faculty. He has also had long-term experience with our curricula and has been involved in course and curricula revision for the University's conversion to semesters and the integration of our new courses into the general education curriculum."

For his part, Mroz is looking forward to the challenges his new position will bring. "It's really an honor to be a part of the faculty and staff of the School of Forestry and Wood Products," he said. "It's an awesome group of people who really strive to stay on the critical path to getting things done. I hope that I can live up to their expectations and want to do all I can to help faculty and staff to move our education, research, and outreach efforts forward."

Mroz sees this as an exciting and challenging time for the School.

"Enrollment is up, the new building is going up around, over, and under us, and we're naturally having some growing pains because of it," he said. "But in spite of this challenging environment, I've been very impressed by how smoothly some of the changes have gone, especially with our new charter."

Last spring a team from the Cooperative State Research, Extension and Education Service, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, came through and evaluated the overall structure of the School of Forestry and Wood Products. One of their major recommendations was the dissolution of the Institute of Wood Research.

"The evaluation team thought that combining all our programs under one tent was the best approach," said Mroz, "primarily because there were so few students in the wood science area. The faculty response to the review panel was very positive and when we voted on a new charter that omitted the Institute, our faculty voted overwhelmingly in favor of the change. I think most people saw it as a way to weld us into a more cohesive and efficient group--and I think that it will.

"We'll be working to build our programs in some traditional and not so traditional ways over the next few years, and personally, I think it's going to be fun just to be a part of it."

Frayer said that in addition to lack of students in wood science, there has been a lot of crossover in recent years between Institute of Wood Research activities and other School disciplines, causing a blurring of the division between the two units. "Faculty felt there was no longer a need for the IWR," he said. "The same research and teaching will continue, but it won't be seated under the IWR umbrella."

Frayer also said the School has reached its matching gift goal of $2.5 million for the construction of Hesterberg and Horner halls and that research funding is at an all-time high--$304,000 per faculty member.

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10/11/99

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