Quarterdeck 2.1
Today we face new challenges that require re-examination of our purpose and mission. Public interest in environmental science has grown rapidly in recent years. The oceans' important role in global climate, pollution issues and resource development is frequently discussed in elementary grades, and many first-year university students no longer wish to wait until graduation to begin serious study of the oceans. At the same time, limited state and national budgets constrain funding for ocean studies, and the public increasingly demands that research funded with tax dollars should directly address practical priorities. In part, those priorities are set by legislators who quickly respond to their constituencies. It is clearly in our long-term interest to welcome and serve the growing demand for undergraduate training in ocean sciences, not only for those students who intend to pursue graduate careers or work in marine-related fields at the bachelor's level, but for all students who aspire to be responsible citizens of Texas and the nation.
Since its inception in 1949, the Department of Oceanography has offered undergraduate courses but only graduate degrees, following the traditional view that an oceanographer should first acquire a sound preparation in one of the basic sciences, mathematics or engineering. That view remains our central anchor, but today we have a wider scope. The State Legislature recently merged Texas A&M University at Galveston into the renamed College of Geosciences and Maritime Studies, which now includes a broad range of marine programs and a maritime academy. The former Department of Marine Sciences in Galveston will join the Department of Oceanography, bringing an undergraduate degree program with about 120 students into the combined department. A new undergraduate Program of Study in Oceanography allows students from either campus to augment non-oceanography degree plans with a focused curriculum in ocean studies, including research at sea.
While considering these changes and the opportunities they bring, it is appropriate to review the early years of the Department of Oceanography, especially in this 50th anniversary of the Research Foundation. We are pleased to bring you a brief retrospective in our expanded and redesigned publication, Quarterdeck, which will highlight research, teaching and service activities in the department. We intend to use this magazine to explain in simple terms what we do and why it is important. Our long-term goal is bimonthly publication, with an interesting aspect of current research featured in each issue. Like its shipboard namesake, Quarterdeck will be a place of discussion and deliberation, announcement and celebration, criticism and judgment, and, we hope, prudent navigation. We solicit your thoughtful comments and suggestions.
Welcome aboard!
-David A. Brooks, Editor
Oceanography, Texas A&M University
rshatto@ocean.tamu.edu
URL=http://oceanography.tamu.edu/Quarterdeck/QD2.1/edit.html
Updated July 20, 1995