At a meeting April 12, the college’s Faculty Assembly considered four name choices, said Dean Ernie Barber – Agriculture and Natural Resources, Agriculture and Renewable Resources, Agriculture and Bioresources, and Agriculture, Food and Bioresources. It took three ballots for the final selection to be made “and in the end, after the final vote was done, there was a motion from the floor that the choice be made unanimous.” That motion, he said, passed by a large majority.

The new name will now be presented to the Planning Committee, which will carry it forward to University Council. Barber said he hopes the change will come to a vote at Council’s June meeting, giving the college the summer to, for example, update its materials.

The April 12 vote was the culmination of extensive consultations on the need to bring the college name in line with its modern mandate. “It started with a vision that embraced all things agriculture but also things that run parallel to agriculture” like resource management, forestry, and food, Barber said. It was a process that also revealed to the dean how attached people are to the word agriculture.