In the News

UNR Launches Academy for the Environment
date posted: December 22 2005

Lake Tahoe Report #101
Jan. 24, 2005
By John Cobourn and Heather Segale


The University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) has announced plans to link all its environmental teaching and research programs under an umbrella organization, the Academy for the Environment. It will not be a new college, but an academy that will bring together more than 100 faculty, dozens of research programs and hundreds of students pursuing a wide variety of environmental programs across the university.

John Frederick, Executive Vice President/Provost of UNR, stated that, “Our university has a long and distinguished history in the teaching and research of a wide variety of environmental programs – from hydrology, ecology and atmospheric sciences to other health and basic sciences, as well as world-class programs in environmental literature and humanities, agriculture, mining and engineering. We believe the breadth of our environmental programs, accounting for more than $10 million annually and spread throughout nearly every college and school, necessitates an umbrella organization that can simplify student access while stimulating interdisciplinary research across the state.”

UNR is conducting a national search for an executive director for the new academy. One task for the new director will be to help coordinate research activities at Lake Tahoe, where the University of Nevada, Reno is conducting a significant amount of ongoing research. Some current projects that researchers are investigating include the effects of fire and fire suppression on nutrient transport and water quality, biogeochemical cycling of nutrients in the watershed, and the impacts of non-native introductions and cultural eutrophication on the Lake Tahoe ecosystem. The executive director will also facilitate coordination between UNR scientists and Tahoe researchers from other institutions.

A number of faculty from across the university played key roles in the creation of the new academy, including Jason Geddes, Nancy Markee, Glenn Miller, Scott Slovic, Jen Huntley-Smith and Scott Tyler. Michael Collopy, professor and chair of UNR’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science in the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources, was appointed interim executive director for the academy in November.

Collopy is an internationally regarded professor and researcher in the ecology and conservation of birds of prey. He has been busy since joining Nevada in 2001, serving on the Faculty Senate executive board, as well as the University Planning Council. He is skilled in leading interdisciplinary programs, which requires someone to be a good listener, communicator, negotiator and leader.

Prior to joining UNR, Collopy led the creation of an interdisciplinary federal research lab at Oregon State University and directed it for 10 years. Before that, he chaired the Wildlife and Range Sciences Department at the University of Florida for five years. He holds a doctorate in natural resources from the University of Michigan, a master’s degree in wildlife management from Humboldt State University, and a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of California in Santa Barbara.

The administrative offices of the new Academy for the Environment are in the Mackay Science Building, conveniently situated near faculty in the environmental literature, and environmental earth and life science programs, and easily accessible by students.

The Academy for the Environment is working with the UNR library to develop a “Tahoe Research, Scholarship and Outreach” integrated Web site, www.tahoe.unr.edu/, which will contain information from the sciences, humanities, and social sciences. This site will highlight efforts by UNR faculty and students and include maps, streaming video, and research information.