Virginia Tech History Resources: College of Natural Resources & Environment
Researching the College of Natural Resources & Environment (CNRE)
Here are resources for the College of Natural Resources & Environment (CNRE) and related items. In addition to the below items, the University Archives holds unprocessed records of CNRE. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives for more information.
General Resources
Record groups may include posters, flyers, photos, organizational records, and more. Materials are divided into assigned Record Groups based on the office, division, or unit and designated by the prefix, RG. For example, materials relating to CNRE are designated RG 45/x, while the Department of Geography is designated both RG 45/10 and RG 15/10 (prior to 2003, when it was housed in the College of Arts & Sciences).
- Record Groups in the University ArchivesThis list includes the major overview of the University Archives' Record Groups. Record Groups are the official records of the university held by Special Collections and University Archives. This includes official records, newspaper clippings, and printed material. There are two versions, a spreadsheet for sorting and filtering and a document that includes a page per RG number.
- Record Group Vertical FilesThe Record Group Vertical Files contain newspaper clippings, pamphlets, brochures, posters, flyers, and more related to departments, schools, colleges, and administrative offices in the university, including press releases, courses, buildings, public events, and more.
About the College of Natural Resources & Environment (CNRE)
By the 1930s, Virginia Polytechnic Institute offered its first programs in forestry and wildlife. The Virginia Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit began in 1935, and three years later the Department of Biology started offering the first B.S. in conservation and forestry. In 1959, the Department of Forestry and Wildlife was founded in the College of Agriculture. In 1974, the Department split into the departments of Forestry and Forest Products and of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences. A year later, the School of Forestry and Wildlife Resources was created within the College of Agriculture. By 1992, the College of Forestry and Wildlife Resources was established, offering majors and minors to students, although it was not fully phased in until 1994. In 2000, the college changed its name to the College of Natural Resources, and in 2010, it became the College of Natural Resources and Environment.
Online Histories and Exhibits
- College and Departmental Histories at Virginia Tech (Archived)This exhibit contains links to videos and webpages about different departments' histories from the colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Enginnering, Liberal Arts & Human Sciences, Natural Resources and Environment, and Science. (Some links may be broken as this is archived on Archive-It.org and dates to 2011.)
- "Instruction, Degrees, and Commencements" on the Virginia Tech History websiteThis website contains a thorough history of several facets of the university's history, including information on the colleges and schools, deans, degrees awarded, commencement speakers, and more.
CNRE Collections
CNRE Collections
Here are several SCUA collections related to the College of Natural Resources and Environment. This is not a comprehensive list of all our related collections. To find more, please search within our collections on Archival Resources of the Virginias.
- William A. Duerr Papers, Ms1975-006Papers of VPI professor of forestry, William A. Duerr, who taught at Virginia Tech from 1972 thru 1980.
- John Murray Papers, Ms2008-036Papers of VPI chemistry professor John Murray, who corresponded with several faculty in forestry and wildlife resources.
CNRE Publications
- Virginia Tech ForesterNewsletter produced by the VPI Forestry Club and VT School of Forestry and Wildlife Resources from the 1940s thru 1980s
- School of Forestry & Wildlife Resources newsletterNewsletter of the VT School of Forestry & Wildlife Resources from the 1980s and 1990s
- College of Forestry and Wildlife Resources periodicalsNewsletters and graduate programs from the College of Forestry and Wildlife Resources from the 1990s
- CNR and CNRE newslettersNewsletters for College of Natural Resources and College of Natural Resources and Environment, from 1990s to the present
- CNRE NewsmagazineElectronic archives from CNRE of its newsletter from 2011 onward
- CNRE Publications in VTechWorksIncludes materials from each department and center in the college.
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Land & Labor Acknowledgement
We thank the American Indian & Indigenous Community Center for providing this statement:
Virginia Tech acknowledges that we live and work on the Tutelo / Monacan People’s homeland and we recognize their continued relationships with their lands and waterways. We further acknowledge that legislation and practices like the Morrill Act (1862) enabled the commonwealth of Virginia to finance and found Virginia Tech through the forced removal of Native Nations from their lands, both locally and in western territories.
We understand that honoring Native Peoples without explicit material commitments falls short of our institutional responsibilities. Through sustained, transparent, and meaningful engagement with the Tutelo / Monacan Peoples, and other Native Nations, we commit to changing the trajectory of Virginia Tech's history by increasing Indigenous student, staff, and faculty recruitment and retention, diversifying course offerings, and meeting the growing needs of all Virginia tribes and supporting their sovereignty.
We must also recognize that enslaved Black people generated revenue and resources used to establish Virginia Tech and were prohibited from attending until 1953. Through InclusiveVT, the institutional and individual commitment to Ut Prosim (that I may serve) in the spirit of community, diversity, and excellence, we commit to advancing a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community.