Dean's Message: Environment:Yale
Going Digital This Fall

Dean Peter Crane

This issue of environment:Yale, the 19th since its debut in the spring of 2002, will be the last one in print. The magazine will be presented exclusively in an online format beginning in the fall. A version of it already exists on the F&ES website, but this will be reconstituted to take full advantage of digital innovations while continuing to report on and investigate global and national environmental issues connected to faculty, student and alumni research and activities at the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.

Class notes, obituaries and the honor roll—all staples of the magazine—will migrate to the Office of Development & Alumni Services’ Alumni Review, which will allow for expanded coverage.

Those of us who grew up with print as the dominant medium appreciate its tangibility. Shelves lined with books and journals are a testament to the durability of ideas and the generational endowment of knowledge. But the trend toward digital communications is accelerating, as evidenced by the popularity of Yale Environment 360. More and more of our students and alumni are accessing information via the Internet and mobile devices, and environment:Yale’s new format will reach them wherever they may be and expand its readership. At the same time, the new platform will honor the school’s core values to consume fewer resources and reduce our carbon footprint. The school will save on printing, postage and mailing, which is not a small consideration in lean budgetary times.

The transition to an online magazine is part of a broader strategy to consolidate and coordinate communications at F&ES so as to increase awareness of all the extraordinary activities that occur here. It will also provide an opportunity to highlight environmental research being conducted in other Yale departments and for environment:Yale and Yale Environment 360 to share award-winning content.

Dave DeFusco, the school’s communications director and creator of environment:Yale, will continue as its editor, and as always, we will be pleased to hear from you. Please contact Dave to share your ideas and thoughts as this transition takes place.