Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources and Environment

The College of Natural Resources and Environment at Virginia Tech contains academic programs in forestry, fisheries, wildlife sciences, geography, and wood science. The college contains four departments as well as a graduate program in the National Capital Region and a leadership institute for undergraduates. The College of Natural Resources and Environment conducts most of its research in facilities located in Blacksburg or through the National Science Foundation's Industry & University Cooperative Research Program (I/UCRC). In 2014-15, the college consisted of 1,023 students. The current dean of the college, Paul M. Winistorfer, was appointed in 2009. History Although the college was not officially established until 1992, its roots were present in Virginia Tech's history as early as 1925 when the first professor of forestry, Wilbur O’Byrne, was hired. By the early 1930s, students were able to study field horticulture, landscape design, and the chemical properties of sprays used to protect orchards. In 1938, the first bachelor of science degrees in conservation and forestry were offered in the Department of Biology. By 1969, the Department of Forestry and Wildlife had become the fastest-growing department on campus, having grown from 66 undergraduates and five graduate students to 346 undergraduates and 52 graduate students. That same year, the department was officially made a unit of the College of Agriculture, and by 1974, it split into the Department of Forestry and Forest Products and the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences. By 1975, a School of Forestry and Wildlife Resources was established. This school became an official university college in 1992, named the College of Forestry and Wildlife Resources. In 2000, the college changed its name to the College of Natural Resources before settling on its current title in 2010.