Minutes - 20 Sept. 1999

1. Introductions
   
2. Distribution of background information Nowell Report
   UW Tacoma Plan for growth in Sciences
   Report of the Loh Committee on University Organization
   
3. Discussion of enrollment trends at CFR and in other programs, including Fisheries, Program on the Environment, and Biology Track II
4. Discussion on what attracts the typical UW student. Students are drawn from a mostly urban base, they want flexibility in their major, they want upper-level jobs (i.e. not a forest tech. position).
5. Motion for a survey to be distributed to forest sector companies. Eastin will make a draft, and it can be pretested with the CFR advisory committee.
6. Discussion on distance learning, and the importance of CE.

Minutes - 27 Sep 1999

1. Trends in CFR enrollment and other departments - review statistics from CFR and Biology for the last 5 years. Review statistics on "Mean time to graduation" and "Mean number of credits at graduation"
2. The current alumni survey - 100 responses back already. Final results will be valuable.
3. Draft of employer survey by Eastin.
4. Distance learning - use of technology. Can work effectively for some classes - mainly web based material, with weekend field trips.
5. Student Credit Hours or Majors as solution for enrollment? Can sell classes for general appeal/non majors. Can recruit majors at certain times.
6. Invitation of Dean/Assoc Dean/department chairs - lunch meeting at the Faculty Club?
7. Contacts made with other departments.
8. Requests for Dan's help.

Minutes - 4 Oct 1999

1. Survey on the Future of Undergraduate Forestry Education at the University of Washington: the committee reviewed this two-page survey. It was agreed that it will be distributed to the visiting committee (at the end of the month), and members from the advisory committee.
2. Report on campus contacts: few contacts have been made. Dan will contact Fisheries, Zoology, and Botany to get more numbers on enrollment trends in other departments.
3. People to meet with Committee: will soon arrange meetings with Dean, Assoc. Dean, and chairs.
4. Draft outline of report: get comments to Jim next week.
5. Organizing times for input to committee: one committee meeting will be used to discuss curriculum issues with other faculty and students (including grad students).
6. Summary of other forestry school programs: Dan will summarize programs at other schools with respect to some key categories (modular courses/capstone courses; flexibility of curriculum; required courses; etc.)

Minutes - 11 Oct 1999

1. Lunch with Dean is set.
2. Discussion of flexibility of curricula. View from POE (and elsewhere on campus?) is that the College is too inflexible with its majors. Cmparison with other professional schools suggests CFR's course requirements are similar many other schools. POE is sensitive to CFR enrollment, and often refers students here (i.e. when a B.S. is more appropriate).
3. The "Futures Survey" was modified to be more flexible and was distributed to the visiting committee. It will also go to ~30 members of the UH and ES advisory groups.
4. Other contacts and discussions made during the week:
   • Michelle Trudeau- undergraduate recruitment at Ice Cream Social; Need for a better color brochure to advertise to prospective students for each program; Expansion of the MFR program
   • Debra Friedman (meeting set up)
5. Draft outline of the report:
   • Gavin presented data on 1) Enrollment forecast for Washington State (see "Resources" page). 2) Forecast of timber and paper related jobs to the year 2020. 3) Outreach programs at WSU and WWU to timber and salmon impacted communities.
   • Main section of report: options for program change: Large-scale changes vs. within curricula changes.

Minutes - 18 Oct 1999

1. Report of Agee-Fred Campbell meeting
   • Growth of Seattle Campus: small relative to Bothell/Tacoma Campus
   • University organization
2. Survey for visiting committee and advisory committees.
3. Discussion of how to structure a flexible curriculum. (Matrix courses) vs. keeping professional orientation of education.

Minutes - 25 Oct 1999

1. Lunch with Dean Thorud and Associate Dean Bradley. Discussion on the committee's progress to date. Discussion of an organizing principle for structuring undergraduate education: a natural progression across scales from plant to management.
2. Futures Committee survey. The survey was finalized by Ivan, cover letter completed, and will be mailed by Gavin later this week.
3. SCH/FTE stats prepared by Agee. Shows trends across curricula reflecting the impact of large survey courses, curricula with many required courses within the program, or large survey courses offered outside the program requirements. Productivity difficult to measure.

Minutes - 1 Nov 1999

1. Agee reported on meetings with visiting committee.
   • Bill Gate's $10M gift for undergraduate scholarships and research.
   • "University Conversations": a new program to bring together a variety of departments with seminars.
   • Concern with overlap between goals of Strategic Planning Committee and Futures Committee.
   • Importance of SCH/FTE stats for program evaluation.
2. Discussion on report sections by individual committee members:
   • Gavin: Introduction and setting the scene for trends in population, higher education, and forest resources use.
   • LARGE SCALE CHANGES
   • Agee: Drastically reduce or eliminate all undergraduate programs: make CFR a graduate school.
   • Northey: Merging with other University programs to create a College of Natural Resources.
   • WITHIN COLLEGE REORGANIZATION
   • Ryan and Marzluff: Create a "truly interdisciplinary" college. Use an organizing model to bring the existing curricula together.
   • Ewing: Increase the flexibility of all programs in the college.
3. Data collecting and networking phase nearing completion. Agee volunteered to begin to synthesize report sections into the whole report later this week.

8 Nov 1999: No Meeting

Minutes - 15 Nov 1999

• Committee discussed some specific sections of the report outline.

Minutes - 22 Nov 1999

1. Report of Agee's meeting with Strategic Planning Committee. This meeting yielded many recommendations and information that the Futures Committee needs to keep in mind.
2. Discussion of the outlined 'options' section of the report.
3. Summary of returned surveys (16 of 45 returned).

Minutes - 29 Nov 1999

1. Continued discussion of the 'options' section of the report. It was agreed that people are getting tired reading the same thing each week. Comments and discussion will resume after putting the report down for a week.
2. Report by Eastin on a meeting with the Bioengineering program, and their experience with starting a 3-2 BS/MSE program. This approach has been used in various CFR programs (as a Masters of Forest Resources) with variable success. A 3-2 program may be a strong addition to some CFR curricula; discussion revolved around how this program could be redesigned.
3. Only one new survey returned. (Total 17 of 45 returned.) Will do an email to remind people who have not responded.
4. CFR Alumni Survey results may be ready next week.
5. Full attendence.

6 Dec 1999 - No Meeting

Members: