- select a quick link
- Admissions
- Athletics
- Bulletin/Catalog
- Calendars
- Campus Map
- Campus Offices
- Campus Recreation
- Careers at SFA
- Contact SFA
- Distance Education
- Faculty/Staff Directory
- Financial Aid
- Fine Arts
- Institutional Accreditation Office
- Jack Bucks
- myCourses
- New Student Orientation
- News
- Pine Log
- Policy Manual
- Public Affairs
- Request for Information
- Residence Life Department
- Scholarships
- SFA Mission
- Strategic Planning
- 85th Anniversary
College of Forestry and Agriculture
R. Scott Beasley, Dean
Forestry 103
Phone (936) 468-3301
Fax: (936) 468-2489
E-mail: atcof@sfasu.edu
www.sfasu.edu/forestry
Michael S. Fountain, Associate Dean
Mission
The mission of the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture is to maintain excellence in teaching, research, and outreach; to enhance the health and vitality of the environment through sustainable management, conservation, and protection of our forests and natural resources; and to enhance the production and economic viability of agricultural commodities. The mission consists of the following objectives:
- The College of Forestry and Agriculture is dedicated to comprehensive undergraduate and graduate education, basic and applied research programs, and service.
- In the educational program, students receive classroom and field-based experiences to prepare them for their professional careers. Academic courses provide learning opportunities which encourage and inspire students to approach forest resource, environmental, agricultural, and social issues in a critical yet creative manner, to identify and analyze key elements, and to articulate ethical solutions.
- The college has a strong commitment to a research program that encourages basic and applied studies in natural resource management, environmental topics, agricultural production, and social values. Although research projects are centered predominantly in East Texas, the issues addressed and results obtained often have national and international implications.
- To complete the college’s mission, a service program provides professional expertise, information, and training. Practicing professionals, industrial landowners, non-industrial landowners, public agencies, farmers, ranchers, poultry producers, and society in general are beneficiaries of these services.
The forestry, environmental science and agriculture complex contains classrooms, laboratories, student computer rooms, greenhouses, a center for livestock production and geographic infomration systems (GIS) laboratories. The Piney Woods Conservation Center, an off-campus facility located on Sam Rayburn Reservoir, provides an ideal setting for field-based studies. Excellence within the ATCOFA is reflected in a variety of other research centers and institutes, including the Center for Applied Studies in Forestry, the Columbia Geospatial Service Center, the Medicinal Plants Center, the Poultry Science Center, the Forest Resources Institute, the East Texas Native Plants Center and the Institute for White-tailed Deer Management and Research.
The campus is situated near the Stephen F. Austin Experimental Forest, the East Texas Plant Materials Center, five wilderness areas that are part of four national forests and several million acres of private commercial forests. The university also is situated in the heart of the nursery/landscape, beef cattle and poultry industries of East Texas. Forestry, environmental science and agriculture classes take advantage of these resources for hands-on education and research opportunities. Forestry, environmental science and agriculture programs benefit from cooperative efforts with industry and producers.