This is the first article in a series that examines the final reports released by the task forces in Cornell’s Strategic Planning process.

The final report for the task force of College of Agriculture and Life Sciences was released just 10 days ago, but it has already turned heads for the bold changes it advocates.

“It’s a work in progress, so we’re all still waiting to see what happens,” Prof. Mark Bridgen, horticulture said. Bridgen, the director of the Long Island Research and Extension Center, said that many of the strategies outlined in the report have been in talks for a long time.

The task force reports, which were released by the Provost on Nov. 6, are the product of the 20 task forces created last spring to brainstorm creative cost-cutting measures to enhance the University’s efficiency. While the complete reports are available in Day Hall by request, summaries of the reports are also available online.

Among the most notable proposed changes in CALS’s extensive strategic plan is the merging of departments. The departments of horticulture, food science, entomology and plant pathology will all merge with their counterparts on the Geneva campus of Cornell. The Geneva campus is home to the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station and is primarily a hub for agricultural research. By combining the departments of the two campuses, the research can run more effectively as a unified body.

Also notable is the proposed creations of “schools” in CALS. The “schools” will have directors and program leaders, and will be home to several departments of similar studies. The two suggested schools in the report are a School of Environmental Sciences, and a School of Applied Economics and Management.

“If schools are developed the way in which they are described in our report, it really won’t change the assemblage of power at all,” said Prof. Jan Nyrop, entomology, and associate dean of CALS. Nyrop was co-chair of the selective Strategic Advisory Committee, and played a large role in compiling the report. “A director doesn’t have any more authority than a department chair does. The big impact that students may experience is that we are looking to continually evolve undergraduate majors.”

The emphasis for an “evolution” of majors was present in the report as well. There was a noted goal to make many majors more “interdisciplinary.” Part of the need for “interdisciplinary” majors stems from the proposed cut in faculty, from 370 to 330. The report also proposes the college cutting down to 18 departments from the current 26.

Plant sciences is one field likely to be streamlined within the next year. The report suggests cutting the field from 5 departments to 3, in addition to placement in the tentative School of Environmental Sciences.

“We’ll try and go in steps, and see how it works out,” said Prof. Marvin Pritts, horticulture, and department chair. “We have to really preserve a core group of courses for undergraduate. We teach a lot of courses, some of them aren’t critical, but we need to keep the core. We [also] have a really strong farmer and grower community that depends on us, we have to figure out how to adjust to their concerns.”

The college’s land grant mission, as well as the relevance of its research to farmers across the nation, was also taken into account. Though faculty and departments would be cut, the number of faculty per department would increase from 12.7 to around 18. The report would also effectively decrease the college’s operating budget. The college needed to cut $21.4 million out of its operating budget of $143 million. Because of budget cuts that had already been implemented this fiscal year, about $6.8 million of this deficit is accounted for, leaving $14.6 million to deal with.

Although the changes outlined in the task force report may be substantial, they are made with the hope of a bright future, financially and academically, according to Nyrop. The reports musts be approved by the Cornell Board of Trustees, the provost, and the president of the University to be completely in effect, something that will most likely not occur until next semester.

“Cornell’s going to grow again, and we want to be in a good position to do that,” said Nyrop. “Some changes are being implemented now. It is unlikely anything formal will occur until March.”