Welcome to a new academic year at the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies! I am delighted to welcome all our new students, and also to welcome back our returning students from all of the incredible work that they have been doing over the summer. This is always a special time in the academic calendar; one filled with great anticipation of what is to come over the next nine months. Every year I also marvel at the fantastic job that our Admissions Office does in bringing us such a wonderful incoming class—this year the most diverse and competitive in the School’s 110-year history!
Here are a few facts on the incoming class of masters students:
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The incoming class boasts 137 master’s students from 20 nations and 28 states, reflecting the increasingly global nature of environmental issues.
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Thirty-three students are from overseas, representing 24 percent of the class. Twenty-eight students, or 20 percent, are U.S. minorities.
This year, there were 574 applicants to the master’s program and the increasingly competitive nature of the program is reflected in the fact that 33.9 percent were accepted, down from 37 percent last year.
I am also delighted to welcome ten new students into our doctoral program, including two from China and one from Brazil. I am also proud that half of them are F&ES alums! This brings the total number of current doctoral candidates in the School to 75. Last year our doctoral students were very successful in gaining fellowship support, including several NSF Graduate Fellowships and the prestigious Trudeau Foundation Fellowship. I am sure that this year’s class will do just as well.
These few statistics are just a snapshot of the breadth and diversity of our student body. As the school year gets underway in earnest, I hope that all of us will take the time to interact with each other and learn from the diverse experiences that our new students bring to our School. Our programs attract the best and brightest students, and their energy and vision is helping to shape our collective environmental future.
Welcome to everyone. We all look forward to another exciting year, and I especially am eager to get to know all of you better!
Sir Peter Crane
Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. Dean
School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
