g2 SEA GRANT COLLEGES 



SEA-GRANT UNIVERSITIES: THE POSSIBILITIES 



AND COMPLICATIONS FROM THE UNIVERSITY'S 



POINT OF VIEW 



(A Panel Discussion) 



Emery N. Castle, Ph.D., Iowa State University, 1952. He became 

 Dean of Faculty at Oregon State University in 1965, having been a 

 professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics for twelve 

 years. He is a consultant to the U. S. Departnaents of Agriculture, 

 Interior, and Defense. 



In his correspondence with the panel members, DeanKnauss raised a num- 

 ber of provocative questions about the possibilities of sea- grant universities. 

 To do all of his questions justice would require more time than any one panel 

 member should appropriately use. I have chosen to focus directly on a small 

 number of issues. Because my background is largely in economics, water re- 

 sources, and agriculture, those questions have been chosen which will permit me 

 to draw upon this prior experience. 



The Relevance of Existing Institutions 



Perhaps it is not surprising that a university representative would con- 

 clude that existing universities are adapted to developing work in the marine 

 sciences. Regardless of the internal structure decided upon, all of the resour- 

 ces needed for marine science research and education can be found only in the 

 universities. The disadvantages of attempting to build a new institution would 

 appear to be far greater than the advantages of drawing on existing universities. 



The reasons for this can be illustrated by the School of Agriculture at 

 Oregon State University. In this School one finds the usual agricultural produc- 

 tion departments. In addition the School has discovered there is much work 

 elsewhere in the University that is of great value in Agriculture. As a conse- 

 quence, such departments as Botany and Plant Pathology, Microbiology, Zoology, 

 Statistics, and Entomology do a very significant part of the research of the Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station to say nothing of the contribution they make in the 

 training of students in the School of Agriculture. Similar kinds of relationships 

 also exist with certain social sciences as well as engineering. The specific or- 

 ganization arrangement to permit this is not so important if this kind of strength 

 is built into the marine sciences program. At Oregon State, the five depart- 

 ments mentioned above are a part of the Agricultural Experiment Station for re- 

 search purposes but are responsible to the School of Science in instructional 

 work. Several factors will influence the specific organizational plan in a parti- 

 cular institution. Among these will be: (1) tradition; (2) the magnitude of the 

 program in the marine sciences; and, (3) the kind of program underway in the 

 various root disciplines. We have emphasized strong departmental units but we 

 move freely across departmental lines in bringing people together for purposes 

 that do not coincide with departmental boundaries. For example, our Water Re- 

 sources Research Institute is entirely a coordinating unit; it has no research of 

 its own. 



A School, College, or Department of Marine Sciences would be consistent 

 with our experience at Oregon State. We would hope, however, that such a unit 

 would not feel it would have to be completely self-sufficient for all purposes. 

 The mistakes that have been made in Schools of Agriculture and Home Economics 

 have been, in my judgment, mistakes associated with too great an emphasis on 



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