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The College of Food, Agricultural,
and Environmental Sciences is committed to providing programs
designed to respond to the complexity of needs of Ohio’s
population and the demands on Ohio’s resources. New issues
arise regularly, as citizens become even more environmentally
and socially aware, as the scale of agriculture production
increases, and as technological advances change the fundamental
nature of production. Our College takes these issues seriously.
We have adopted a model that guides our work in all areas
of the College. This model is built on four areas of focus:
production efficiency, economic viability, environmental compatibility,
and social responsibility. A pyramid has been chosen to provide
a visual representation of this model. Each wall of the pyramid
represents one of the four dimensions. Four equal walls provide
support and strength to each other and emphasize the critical
need for balance and integration of the four areas. Disregarding
one of the dimensions would weaken the structure significantly;
operating without considering two dimensions would cause the
system to collapse.
Teachers and researchers within the College are trained in
a variety of disciplines – plant and animal biology,
entomology, microbiology, soil science, food science, engineering,
economics, sociology, education and communications. These
disciplines view the world in different ways, just as differences
exist among the perspectives and priorities of our diverse
stakeholder groups. The ideals of the pyramid are intended
to be meaningful to everyone in the College as well as to
those who look to us as an education resource. The pyramid
model provides a “common ground” framework for better
understanding differences, engaging more effectively in the
public discussion of them, and ultimately resolving them and
working together to address societal needs.
Click
here for a link to an editorial or click on a link to
the left to view a video that describes the ecological paradigm
in greater detail.
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