Environmental Informatics

[randy_byers]

One of the cynical jokes in our office for the past decade or so has been that every department on campus wants to put "environment" or "information" in their names in order to sound modern and relevant. The most recent example of this is the School of Marine Affairs, which just changed its name to the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs

Comments

[kalimac]

it's been longer than all this that the School of Library and Information Science became the zippy Information School

When I attended it, it was still the School of Librarianship (not even "Library Science").

A junior college around here renamed its library the "Learning Center". How the heck is somebody who isn't already familiar with it supposed to know what that means? Isn't the whole campus a learning center?

[randy_byers]

Looks as though it changed to Library and Information Science with the '84-'86 general catalog.

I've got to agree that Learning Center is a pretty pitiful name for a library. I mean, they still have books, don't they? Even if the books are supplemented by internet access or other information tools.

[wrdnrd]

College of Built Environments got a lot of laughs over here, tho' i have to admit that it made sense to me considering all the not-strictly-architecture departments it contains (urban planning, for example).

PS: I LOVE getting fanzines in campus mail! Thank you!! \o/ (Arrived friday, i think, but i was out sick monday and was busy playing catch-up yesterday.)

[randy_byers]

I think I had heard the phrase "built environment" before CAUP adopted the change, so it didn't seem entirely opportunistic to me. As I recall I ran into it in the context of New Urbanism. And yeah, the Department of Urban Development has had the Community and Enivironmental Planning program going back to at least 1996, and I see that they had one called Environmental Design before that. On the other hand I still have a hard time remembering to call the college by its new name.

Glad you got the zine!

[grytpype_thynne]

Why not expand further to the School of Marine, Environmental, Geopolitical and Marine Affair. Or SMEGMA.

A multitude of further puns and wordplay occurs but I'm not a well known fan from Scotland so I shall retrain myself.

[randy_byers]

The School of Marine Affairs Can Kill. Yes, we're talking SMACK.