Agriculture dean proposes reorganization of Oregon State's program | OregonLive.com

Agriculture dean proposes reorganization of Oregon State's program | OregonLive.com

Agriculture dean proposes reorganization of Oregon State's program

By Eric Mortenson, The Oregonian

April 05, 2010, 11:33AM

The dean of Oregon State University's College of Agricultural Sciences isproposing to consolidate departments, put more emphasis on winning grants and ask communities to help pay for 11 statewide experiment stations.

Dean Sonny Ramaswamy also proposes changing the name to the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences. In a news release, Ramaswamy said the name change reflects the college's strengths and the qualities that Oregon is known for.

The dean said state support for teaching and research positions within the College of Agricultural Sciences has dropped by 40 percent since the early 1990s, making the college more dependent on grants. The college received more than $44 million in grants last year, and most recently received $3.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to conduct environmental health and biomedical research.

Ramaswamy is proposing a new business model for the way crop experiment stations are funded, recommending that communities and industry groups pay 25 percent of the cost. One branch station, in Union, will be merged with OSU's agriculture program at Eastern Oregon University in nearby La Grande.

Finally, the proposal reshapes the college's 12 departments into nine: education and communications; animal and range sciences; applied economics and policy; biological and ecological engineering; environmental