---- george middendorf <[email protected]> wrote: > For a wider list of disciplines with programmatic accreditation, > including several > of those listed by earlier responders, take a look at the CHEA (Council for > Higher Education Accreditation) website <http://www.chea.org/** > {stuff cut} > I’d like to suggest that ecologists interested in developing an accreditation > system for biology step cautiously. There’s been quite a bit of discussion > over the past two decades regarding establishment of foundations and > standards in the discipline—not all of which have been favorable to > ecology, evolution, organismal biology, and natural history.
American Institute of Biological Science has led some efforts at accrediting undergraduate biology programs. Those attempts have failed, mostly breaking down due to lack of agreement as to what constitutes the "core" of biology as a discipline. From my perspective, the failure has been because too many folks really don't see what the essential substance of the core is -- evolution, genetics, ecology, biodiversity. But some folks in biology seem to focus on how organisms are structured and work, especially at the cellular level. Ironically, so far as institutional offerings are concerned, the institutional programs that are broadest and most complete with respect to the spectrum of the discipline appear to be at regional institutions, where a "general" biology program is still usually offered. But some of those can be, where a focus on preparing students for medical school has dominated, quite limited. If undergraduate biology program accreditation appears to be seriously considered again, I would encourage ESA to become involved. ESA is large, has credibility, and a presence on most campuses (at least a member or two). If no ecological organization participates, then we stand a chance of being read out of programs because other groups dominate. I continue to be amazed at the number of biologists who see ecology as peripheral to their science. But then, biodiversity courses have totally disappeared from many campuses. They persist mainly in large institutions or as service courses to resource management programs. mcneely
