Owen Nevin
Q&A: Feed the beast, control the beast
Owen Nevin, candidate for dean of the University of Montana’s College of Forestry and Conservation, gave a brief presentation about his future plans if he were dean. He said he would look to increase the number of students by attracting international students and encouraging influential research. Roughly 50 people attended Nevin’s Open Forum at the Andrew Blewett III School of Law on March 22, 2016.
Montana Story Lab is interested in how candidates for Forestry dean feel about working with the media and communicating science to a general audience. Nevin said the media can be a tool for the College of Forestry to increase enrollment. He talked about the give-and-take relationship between researchers and the media.
Q: Do you think it’s important that the general public understands the science and policy work done at UM’s College of Forestry and Conservation? Why?
Nevin: I think that is really important. I think it’s essential really that people know what we are delivering. What we’re delivering in terms of influencing policy. In terms of influencing decision makers in our state and our federal organizations. Internationally. Much of our research will influence international policy decisions.
Why is that important? That is important because we are dependent on the community for our ongoing success. They support the notion of the institution. If you take it back to its bare basics, the community demands that they have a University. We then deliver on those promises we make to the community by being here as a University. So that’s a very basal reason to do it.
Another reason that’s important to communicate those outcomes, the successes, those impacts — is because every story a journalist writes for us is a promotion of what we’re doing and every promotion of what we’re doing is a recruitment poster for students; graduate students; undergraduate students, funders.
You know, people access information. I mean I commented that I’d seen the Unnatural Histories article in the New York Times on a Twitter feed. In Australia, the New York Times doesn’t land on my desk. That information flows through … because there’s keywords in there that associates with things I’m interested in, and other peers, and I read it. I go, ‘Oh, look at that, somebody from the University of Montana. I’m not the only person seeing those articles. So communicating to the community and having them understanding is such a tool to get it out there to the world.
Q: The Obama administration has been accused of preventing federal scientists and forestry professionals in the administration from speaking directly with the media. At UM, however, the schools of Forestry and Journalism have traditionally worked well together. How can you, as dean, actively work to continue a collaborative relationship between Forestry students and faculty and the press?
Nevin: I think communicating with the media is really important. I’m sure that the University has some media and communication policy. And they may even have a database in which you can take your name and say, “I’m willing to speak to the press.” And I would encourage all of you to say, “Yeah, I’ll speak to the press.” If they come and they ask you to talk about something you’re not comfortable with you can always say, “No.” Don’t say, “No comment.” Never say “No comment.” Just say, “No that’s not my expertise. You’d be better off speaking to Blah” — somebody that’s on sabbatical, give them their phone number and they’ll never find them.
I think it’s really important to be communicating openly with the media. I think it’s important to be out there speaking to the media. It is important to know the boundaries of what is your expertise and what is your opinion. Because when they speak to you, they speak to you as a representative of the college, of the University, and they speak to you because of your academic credibility. So as dean I would want to be available to the media. I would want my team to be available to the media. I would want to provide an ongoing dialogue and be in conversation with the media. And some of that conversation comes from long term relationships with media as well.
So, if I look back, way back to the first paper that I published on bears scent marking on trees. You know bears rubbing on trees is kind of a good story. A BBC journalist did an interview with me that became the most read science story of the year, which got her some awards in the BBC. We’ve continued to be in contact throughout our progressive careers. She is now the senior science correspondent for the BBC and is the lead of science reporting for that global news organization and is still a contact, so I will feed stories to her that she feeds to her teams. She’ll call me to see who is relevant to that. You know that relationship with the media. It’s a give and a take. If you give them good stories, they’ll help you out when you need to promote things. So we need to feed the beast, but keep the beast under control.
Finalists for the position of Dean of the School of Forestry at the University of Montana include:
- Dr. Owen Nevin.
- Dr. Andrea Easter-Pilcher. Read her Q&A.
- Dr. Thomas DeLuca. Read his Q&A.
