The OSU College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) under Dean Cathann Kress’ leadership embarked on a process to develop a Water Quality Initiative for the College. In the fall of 2017, she formed a Water Quality Task Force charged with shepherding the process. The WQTF included representation of many of the different academic and extension units in the college (see membership list here).
The WQTF submitted our final recommendation to the dean in January 2019 (see copy of report here). The proposed WQI will address the full range of CFAES’ mission: research, teaching, and outreach/extension.
The Task Force used a participatory/engaged approach to develop the WQI. The purpose was to invite input from the full range of internal and external stakeholders about the priority water-quality issues and most impactful programs that should be included in a CFAES Ohio Water-Quality Initiative. This included extensive consultations with our faculty & staff colleagues within the college, as well as systematically gathering input from stakeholders who work on water quality related issues outside of the university.
Detailed summaries of the feedback we received can be seen here.
Concurrently, we convened a science working group to more closely examine the time-critical topic of Lake Erie Harmful Algal Blooms (LEHABS), to better understand the college's role in this issue and to identify future priority opportunities for extension, research, and teaching.