SWhere Have All the Students Gone?
Part 1 of 2
By Victoria Smith
Dr. Mary Collins' talk, Where Have All the
Students Gone?, given at the 2002 ASA-CSSA-SSSA
Annual Meetings, addressed enrollment declines in
soil science programs at the undergraduate level.
This is a problem of growing national and international
concern.
While she sees the graduate program in soil science
at the University of Florida remaining strong, the
number of undergraduate soils majors has declined
abruptly since 1996, to the current two or three
majors.
Dr. Collins feels that it is important to maintain
undergraduate programs in soils for several reasons.
She frequently encounters environmental scientists
working on soils problems in the field. While their
science backgrounds are strong, they simply do not
have the understanding of soils necessary to solve
the problems. Secondly, she finds that many students
enter graduate soils programs needing to learn the
basic principles of soil science before they can
effectively teach classes to undergraduates.
AWSS: What were the take-home
messages you delivered in your talk?
Dr. Collins: We need to do something
now [about enrollment] or forever hold our peace.
The low numbers are there. It is reality. How do
we answer the questions asked by administrators
when soil science has less than 10 majors and history
has 3,000? Questions such as, "If students
do not enroll, does society need the program?"
Also, who will be getting the jobs that soil science
[majors] have filled?
AWSS: Did you identify specific
causes?
Dr. Collins: The major is not well-known
and it is not hot like forensic science is now.
We don't have a TV show (CSI and CSI-Miami and all
the rest).
AWSS: Tell me about the problem
and how you see it being addressed currently.
Dr. Collins: The main problem is
that departments may [decide] not [to] offer an
undergraduate degree in soil science. The administration
sees low numbers for years and feels that it is
an area of science not need[ed]. Courses will [continue
to] be taught, but they will be service courses
to other majors. I am already [largely teaching
non-majors] because there are only three [soil science]
majors in the department. I teach to over 100 students
from other departments, none of whom are majors.
Dr. Collins discussed one simple change that could
make a key difference as far as the survival of
the soil science degree at her department. At the
University of Florida, the Introduction to Soils
class used to be rotated each year among three faculty
members. The course fulfills general education requirements
and attracts a breadth of backgrounds: English,
finance and other majors. Recently it was given
to Dr. Collins to teach exclusively. The idea was
to increase enrollment and strengthen the reputation
of the course by having one professor responsible
for course development. As a result, the enrollment
has increased by almost 50%, to the 100 non-majors
mentioned. Several of these students are deciding
to switch their majors to soils as well.
AWSS: What do you want others in
the profession, who may not have attended your talk,
to know about ways to support undergraduate enrollment?
Dr. Collins: Men and women need to
recruit [students] in high school. Students get to
the university not knowing that you can major in soil
science. Why did you become a soil scientist? I'm
sure the majority of us never heard of it when we
were 18 years old.
AWSS: Are you working with others
to address the problem you identified--either colleagues
in your institution or in the larger soil science
community?
Dr. Collins: Yes, I'm on the National
Academy of Sciences' National Committee for Soil
Science. I presented this information to the committee
in May and updated them in Indianapolis. We suggested
that a subcommittee be formed. I believe that they
are going to do it.
Dr. Collins went on to explain that such a subcommittee
could go on to write a white paper for presentation
at the coming National Academy of Sciences meeting.
Such a talk could help garner more widespread support
of soils programs from scientists in other disciplines.
Read Where Have All the Students Gone?
Part
2: Learning from Cal Poly - A Success Story for Undergraduate
Soil Science
About Victoria Smith:
As a soil-scientist-in-waiting during my undergraduate
years, I received my training in natural sciences
and Russian language at Evergreen State College in
western Washington, before going on to obtain a master's
degree in Soil Science (Pedology) from UC Berkeley.
Among my experiences since completing my degree were
performing site assessments for a consulting firm
in San Diego, editing translations of Russian soil
science journals while living abroad, and mapping
soils for the soil survey in western New York state.
I became fully ARCPACS- certified in 1998. I have
been an at-home mom since moving from New York to
Georgia in the fall of 1999, and have recently begun
to build a nonfiction writing business. I have published
over two dozen articles for general interest, and
several for BioCycle Magazine. Of greatest concern
to me are topics that change people's understanding
of the world-- from topics in alternative health to
the natural environment.
This most recent SSSA conference has rekindled
my own desire to look closely at the future of our
profession, to understand potential problems and
see what has already been done to resolve them.
As soil scientists, what often isolates us from
one another are the larger "state" factors
that vary greatly throughout this country-- and
that we do our work in different political milieus.
I see a need for articles of a national scope, written
for lay people by journalists that profile soil
scientists. There is a great opportunity to demonstrate
the diversity of environmental problems that have
been solved by our profession.
