FSU Ethnobotany Program to be Discontinued

The Faculty Senate at Frostburg State University is set to discontinue the Ethnobotany major during their monthly meeting tomorrow, Oct. 7. According to the rationale, the number of majors in the program has continued to be low throughout the program’s existence over the last 13 years. Moreover, Dr. Sunshine Brosi, the faculty member who taught the majority of the major-specific courses left FSU last semester. Brosi is now an Associate Professor at Utah State University in the Department of Wildland Resources.

Ethnobotany was once an up-and-coming discipline at Frostburg where the campus housed only one of a few programs in the United States. The most recent to fold, at the University of Hawaii, stopped admitting students into the program in April 2015. However, despite being the only active program in the country for the last five years, Frostburg struggled to attract interest. 

Recent graduates say they are not surprised by this decision. One, who works in the medical marijuana industry, says that he felt more prepared to identify plants and trees than he did to speak on their medicinal use. “It’s not like I didn’t like my classes, I did,” he said, “but we didn’t really study ‘ethnobotany,’ whatever that means.” He said the lack of support for Brosi was a problem, “she was the only person who taught the intro classes and her workload during regular semesters was so heavy that I had to take courses during summer and intersession in order to graduate.” 

Despite these obstacles, a number of ethnobotany graduates have left Frostburg to pursue dynamic careers. Indeed, at least three have been admitted into Ph.D. programs at Yale University, University of Tennessee, and University of Idaho. Others are employed with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Landscape Horticulturalist Botanical Garden in Pittsburgh, and with the Great Basin Institute of Nevada.

At peak enrollment, according to an email from Dr. David Puthoff, the program had 25 students. Over the last five years, he reports that there were less than 10 enrolled, “the major just has not garnered enough interest to continue,” he wrote. According to Geography Department Chair Richard Russo, ethnobotany students who took his classes were “some of my best students.”

For those currently enrolled, a total of two students, the program suspension notification reports that the Biology department will make course substitutions “liberally to ensure that students currently enrolled can meet their career objectives.” The department is also searching for a replacement for Brosi to support their other programs, with the intention to replace Brosi’s expertise. 

The decision to discontinue the major has been in the works for several months, according to internal documents. The Institutional Priorities and Resources committee at FSU has already unanimously approved the decision and the University System of Maryland has been informed.