Educational Land Management (ELM)
Establishing a New Land Management Strategy for Berry College
Proposal submitted to the President of the College by
Bruce Conn, Dean of the School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences
1999
"You can always count on the land." (Thomas Berry, offering advice to his daughter, Martha).
I am convinced that Berry's land resources, if managed properly as a resource for teaching and research, will one day set Berry apart as a world-class institution in the area of environmental sciences and environmental studies. We must do more than we are doing now. First, we must open the campus fully to academic use by our own faculty and students. We must integrate all aspects of our land resource management into our academic programs. Then, we must host distinguished environmental scientists and students from around the world, who will visit us to work on our land and share their expertise. These guests should be invited to work on our campus, thus transforming our biodiversity database and other initiatives into collaborative ventures. No other college or university in the world has such a large and diverse tract of land to manage as an educational and scientific resource. If we continue to use our land as in the past, we will be rewarded with a bit of revenue and a bit of favorable publicity. Alternatively, if we manage it with a new vision, recognizing its worth in our true primary purpose of education/scholarship, we will be rewarded with international acclaim. Such acclaim will bring better opportunities to our students, and will ultimately generate far more revenue as a unique educational/scientific resource than ever could be realized within the current management model.
Fifty years from now, Berry College will be renowned as that globally unique classroom of green, an oasis in the middle of urban sprawl, whose leaders had the courage and vision to recognize the priceless asset that Berry's land is in a new age of science, education, and environmental stewardship.
Proposed Berry College Academic Land Resources Steering Committee:
Dean of the School of Mathematical & Natural Sciences
President of the College
Provost
Faculty coordinator of environmental sciences program
Environmental ethicist faculty member
Agricultural operations faculty member
Geology faculty member
Anthropology faculty member
Vice President for finance
Land resources manager
Grounds director
Director of Campus Safety