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CSREES Comprehensive Review of the Department of Entomology The Ohio State University October 17-22, 2004 SUMMARY The Department of Entomology at the Ohio State University is one of the best in the nation. It has a rich history and reputation for preparing entomologists for the future through a highly diverse graduate research, teaching, and extension program and an excellent research record on diverse aspects of insects and other arthropods. While several entomology departments have vanished recently and existence of others is threatened, this department is in a leadership position to contribute value to the society by virtue of its breadth of scholarship, diversity, cohesiveness, and ability of its faculty to cooperate and collaborate both within the department and with our many external stakeholders. Much of the research conducted in this department, from pest management to molecular entomology, is driven by an ecological paradigm of production efficiency, economic viability, social responsibility and environmental compatibility. Individual and collaborative research programs are further synergized by a breadth of experience and operations along diverse continua: from traditional problem solvers to designers and leaders, from basic to applied science, across two campuses and two colleges and beyond into medicine and human health, from the molecule to ecosystem levels, from local to global issues, and from heuristic science to intellectual property. The unique ability to operate along the full scope of these axes provides a great deal of flexibility in the education we provide and in the potential for developing solutions and opportunities for the future. The environment in which we work is changing rapidly. We are experiencing rapid change in societal needs and support for higher education and research in Ohio. Ohio is a highly urban state, with 75% of its population classified as urban and much of the remaining population living within metropolitan areas. These changing demographics with respect to agriculture, our currently weak state and national economy, and increasing focus on accountability for educational institutions are forcing us to reinvent our research, teaching and extension missions. While some reorganization is inevitable, we have used this review opportunity to address these new challenges. What emerges is an intent to collaborate at new levels and intensities, to further integrate our scholarship in a systems framework from the molecular to ecosystem levels, to recognize and further capitalize on our diversity, to share what we do in new ways and according to both new and old needs, to anticipate change and design with our diverse stakeholders creative solutions and opportunities in the face of it. In doing so we foresee not only new opportunities to provide the value sought from us, but a needed example of what the US land grant university can accomplish in a new global landscape. www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/entomology/OSUEntCSREES.pdf
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