Gallo School Initiative - Background and Timeline

We face the challenge of creating a sustainable society in a time when humans are the dominant influence on climate and the environment. The key to a sustainable, vibrant, and caring civilization lies in an integrated understanding and management of individual and collective human behavior, the natural environment, and socio-technological innovation, considering physical, cognitive, economic, and social processes, and accounting for complex interactions and dynamics in private, public, and non-governmental contexts The opportunity lies in gaps in knowledge related to (1) understanding complex human behavior and decision-making in individual, interactive, organizational, institutional, technological, and natural settings; (2) understanding complex interactions between natural processes and human-designed or human-influenced systems; (3) designing complex systems that sustainably and efficiently couple people, technologies, and natural processes; and (4) managing complex real-world systems to put theory into practice and improve human and natural conditions locally and globally. 

In Fall 2018, faculty from across the campus articulated a vision for a new Gallo School that focuses on human cognition, decision-making, complex human behavior, complex coupled human-natural systems, sustainability, and management of individuals, organizations and institutions in the economy. As envisioned, this transdisciplinary enterprise will draw on the expertise of scientists, researchers, and practitioners from broad backgrounds by combining the Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences, the Department of Economics and Business Mangement, and the Department of Management of Complex Systems (and possibly others). Our goal is to instill in students the skills needed to balance management, information, and sustainability; the knowledge needed to understand, design, and manage complex systems; to balance and a passion for embracing the complexities of real interactions among people, technologies, and the natural world.  We envision a new transdisciplinary Gallo School that supports and promotes the integrated research, teaching, and service missions of scientists, engineers, and practitioners in broad areas related to the management and science of complex coupled human-technological and human-environmental systems and the behavior, management, and governance of individuals, firms, institutions, and economies in a world of rapidly evolving technologies, populations, and global environment.

As part of the Gallo School Initiative, a cross-campus faculty Task Force will sharpen this vision as the first step in the process of creating a formal proposal for a new Gallo School. We need your input to improve the vision, and ultimately to develop a proposal that represents the campus’s best interests. We request comments and suggestions on the vision, including expressions of interest in aligning with or participating in the proposed school. These may be sent directly by email to pmaglio@ucmerced.edu, by December15, 2018. The Task Force will review all input and publish a revised vision at the start of Spring Semester.