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CORVALLIS, Ore. - The geosciences program at Oregon State University is joining the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences to form a powerful new academic and research college at OSU focusing on the Earth as an integrated system.

The move has been approved by the OSU Faculty Senate, and signed off by OSU President Edward J. Ray. It is effective immediately.

Impetus for the move sprung up from the faculty of both units, according to Mark Abbott, dean of the newly named College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences.

"The faculty have been thinking about and planning this for more than a decade," Abbott said. "It makes sense to look at terrestrial environments and ecology and the way they interact with oceans and the atmosphere as part of a 'whole Earth' approach. The opportunities for collaborative research and education are enormous."

The move may lead to more undergraduate opportunities in ocean and atmospheric science, as well as more undergraduate research experiences, Abbott said. The former College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences was a graduate program offering master's degrees and Ph.D.s in ocean, earth and atmospheric science, as well as through the Marine Resource Management program.

OSU's strengths in earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences are global in scope, ranging from coastal ocean dynamics and their impact on ocean ecosystems, to the study of undersea volcanoes and their link to plate tectonics, to how changes in Earth's continents affected ancient climates. OSU is internationally recognized as a leader in the study of the Earth as an integrated system.

Faculty in the former Department of Geosciences, which had been in the College of Science, also are internationally known, with expertise in high-latitude ice sheets, glaciers, climate change, plate tectonics, volcanoes, earthquakes, snowpack, hydrology and water resources, mineral deposits, cartography and geographic information systems.

"The new college will be like an 'honors college' for Earth sciences," Abbott said.

Existing undergraduate and graduate degree programs will continue and likely expand. A new Bachelor of Science degree in earth sciences was approved as well, and the college will assume responsibility for the university's Environmental Sciences program, which offers BS and BA degrees.

The new College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences has an annual budget of more than $50 million, with much of the research support coming from the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration and other federal agencies. It has approximately 104 faculty, 220 graduate students and 613 undergraduate students.