Lake Superior State University announces new College of the Great Lakes Ecology and Education

Lake Superior State University has announced the launch of its new College of the Great Lakes Ecology and Education.

The school’s board of trustees unanimously voted to create the College of the Great Lakes Ecology and Education. The board saw the creation of the college as a good way to increase enrollment, retention, and graduation at Lake Superior State, as well as a valuable means of training the next generation of leaders and teachers in the field of conservation. The College will deliver high impact practices for students such as volunteer, research, and internship opportunities through its partnerships with private and public natural resource agencies that are involved with vital environmental causes in the Great Lakes area. The board also expects the College will provide yet another revenue stream for the so-called blue economy in which the Great Lakes region is involved.

Dr. Ashley Moerke, who serves as the executive director of the Richard and Theresa Barch Center for Freshwater Research and Education at Lake Superior State University, has been appointed the founding dean of the College of the Great Lakes Ecology and Education.

In an article posted on Lake Superior State University’s website, Lake State Board of Trustees Chair Timothy L. Lukenda was quoted on his reaction to the new College, saying, “LSSU’s new College of the Great Lakes Ecology and Education will not only help the institution equip graduates with the knowledge and skills to craft a life of meaningful employment but also enhance the quality of life of the Great Lakes region and beyond. The Great Lakes supply almost 20 percent of the world’s surface freshwater plus drinking water for more than 30 million people. LSSU’s backyard is nestled among three of them, thus providing vital occasions for ecofriendly research, innovation, real-world experiences—and this new college.”

The College of the Great Lakes Ecology and Education will work in a partnership with the School of Education, the School of Natural Resources, and the Barch CFRE. Students who are interested can begin to enroll in the College of the Great Lakes Ecology and Education beginning in the Fall 2023 semester. The university is already in the process of hiring faculty and staff for the new College, and is considering a host of new academic programs to be housed at the College.

This new College is the sixth college at Lake Superior State University. Lake State’s board of trustees restructured the school’s academic programs into five colleges, with various schools housed in those colleges, back in December 2017. The university now has the College of Education and Liberal Arts, the College of Science and the Environment, the College of Innovation and Solutions, the College of Health and Behavior, and the College of Criminal Justice and Emergency Responders, in addition to the newly created College of the Great Lakes Ecology and Education.

LSSU Interim President Dr. Lynn G. Gillette was also quoted about the new College, saying, “We’re excited to springboard our cutting-edge, transformative-driven Barch CFRE as the foundation for the College of the Great Lakes Ecology and Education to further the excellence in teaching, learning, and service that are hallmarks of a Lake State education. “We opened the spectacular $18 million Barch CFRE in December 2021, and it immediately was considered in the vanguard of its kind. Also late in 2021, U.S. Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan selected LSSU as the hub for the U.S. Coast Guard’s Great Lakes Center of Expertise on the study and mitigation of oil spills in freshwater environments, and last summer, we celebrated the grand opening of the Great Lakes Center of Expertise at Barch CFRE, as just one of several alliances at our site. For decades, LSSU has reared and released tens of thousands of Atlantic salmon annually at the CFRE Fish Hatchery. In fact, since LSSU’s founding in 1946, the institution has embraced any number of going-green endeavors. So it makes perfect sense for the university to take the ultimate step and launch a College of the Great Lakes Ecology and Education—because the campus, region, state, and country benefit in overlapping ways.”

Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Kimberly Muller chimed in, as well, saying, “The Great Lakes form a key part of Michigan’s identity, abound with ecological riches, and are an indispensable economic engine. LSSU’s College of the Great Lakes Ecology and Education will augment academic programs, generate more experiential learning opportunities for students, give students additional conduits to pursue research projects with faculty, inspire students to enroll, allow faculty to buttress their already-significant contributions to the field, respond to workforce needs, and redouble LSSU’s sustainability. An essential component of the new college, Barch CFRE, has earned a reputation for preservation, experiential learning, research funding, and workshops and overviews for K-12 education and the public. More than 6,500 people have visited its Great Lakes Discovery Center since the opening less than two years ago. With the College of the Great Lakes Ecology and Education, Barch CFRE can develop its own academic programs in higher education settings.”
 
The Founding Dean of the College of the Great Lakes Ecology and Education, Dr. Moerke expressed delight at the new development, saying, “I am honored to be part of this exciting initiative that recognizes LSSU’s unique location at the nexus of three Great Lakes and that will build upon our natural, cultural, and social resources for our students to become the next local and global leaders in natural resources, conservation, and education.”

Dr. Moerke is a freshwater ecologist with a focus on the Great Lakes basin, as well as a professor in the School of Natural Resources and Environment. She earned her bachelor of science degree in biology from the University of Minnesota Duluth, and her master of science degree as well as her Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. She worked as a scientist for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before coming to Lake Superior State University in 2004. She served as the president of the Society for Freshwater Science from 2021 until 2022, and is also a member of the State of Michigan Water quality Advisor Committee and an at-large advisor to the Lake Superior Committee of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

Speaking about the impact the new College will have, she said, “The College of the Great Lakes Ecology and Education will leverage our place—the Great Lakes—and our state-of-the-art facilities, research, and educational assets at Barch CFRE to provide unparalleled hands-on opportunities for students pursuing careers in natural resources, conservation, and education.”

More information about Lake Superior State University can be found at the school’s website.