A September 15 story Ithaca-Geneva department mergers strengthen CALS mission in the CALS Newsroom announced the July 1 merger of four Ithaca-based departments and four Geneva-based departments:
“The Ithaca and Geneva based sister departments – Entomology (Ithaca and Geneva), Food Science (Ithaca) and Food Science and Technology (Geneva), Horticulture (Ithaca) and Horticultural Sciences (Geneva), and Plant Pathology and Plant Microbe-Biology (Ithaca and Geneva)-merged as of July 1, 2010. The four new departments will be known as the Department of Horticulture, the Department of Entomology, the Department of Food Science, and the Department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology. …
“‘It really made sense to capitalize on the fact that the departments were already planning together and that the distinctions between the two locations were blurring a bit in terms of teaching and the types of research being done,’ said CALS Senior Associate Dean Jan Nyrop. …
“Marvin Pritts, chair of the newly formed Department of Horticulture, views the reorganization as a valuable and logical evolution: ‘Geneva and Ithaca have been getting together on a regular basis for years for retreats and curriculum planning and extension coordination. The thought of formally merging didn’t scare anybody because they’ve been collaborating for a long time.’
“No stranger to department mergers, having experienced three in his 26 years at CALS, Pritts feels that a larger department not only has the advantages of flexibility and adaptability, but that faculty will have new opportunities for collaboration in research and outreach.
“But the new possibilities for teaching excite Pritts most: ‘The Geneva faculty, traditionally, have not been able to be as involved in teaching as their Ithaca counterparts. But with newer technologies they will be able to take a more active teaching role, benefiting the students since they will have a greater breadth of faculty to learn from and courses to engage in.'”