Fall 2015 will mark the beginning of the Dillard Center for Energy Management and the Robert L. Bolin Graduate School of Petroleum Geology. For some students, there is some level of uncertainty as to what this means for the university’s identity, especially for environmentalists and those who fear the neglect of the liberal arts.

As for Jeff Snowden, a geology senior interested in sedimentary petrology, he is glad for the opportunity to attend graduate school through MSU.

“I will be able to continue with the research I’ve already been doing as an undergraduate,” Snowden said. “I’m familiar with the professors. That’s a big thing when you’re looking at graduate work.”

Though his plan for the future is uncertain, Snowden knows his degree will enable him to apply his skills to the development of oil, gas and water reservoirs—all of which speak volumes to areas like Wichita Falls.

According to Scott Meddaugh, professor of geosciences, a masters degree in petroleum geology will make a difference of up to $60,000 for a student’s starting salary. Additionally, he said the Dillard Center for Energy Management will provide a potential for cross-discipline work between science and business students, a core principle of liberal arts universities, according to Meddaugh.

“I think there are people who see sciences and humanities in some sort of conflict for administrative attention or funding or building space, and, to me, that’s kind of a false battle,” Meddaugh said. “Both groups coexist, both groups leverage off of each other, and I think that’s best for the students.”

He referred to the liberal arts as a “style of college education” rather than a list of courses which favor music, theater, visual arts, or literature. Through the core, undergraduate students of every major are exposed to a variety of fields which expand their worldview.

“There’s a balance that is achieved by having the wide diversity of studies,” Meddaugh said. “Somebody who’s studying geology, chemistry, physics, or any of the so-called ‘hard sciences,’ benefits from time spent outside of the sciences.”

Rebecca Dodge, an associate geology professor who will coordinate the new graduate program for petroleum geology, said she is confident the university and its students will benefit from added attention on the sciences.

“[Midwestern] is not just a trade school. No new or expanded emphasis on any department is going to detract from the education that you’re going to get here as a liberal arts institution,” Dodge said. “When you go to college, a lot of times you’re interested in a specific career, so if you choose to go to a liberal arts institution, the advantage of being in that institution is [that it] tries to give students a more holistic viewpoint… that’s what Midwestern is trying to do for people in every major.”

Lucy Schultz, assistant professor of philosophy and an environmentalist, shared her view of the university’s investment in its new energy programs.

“Any new program at MSU is exciting because it signals growth and people coming together to promote a shared vision and new opportunities for our students,” Schultz said. “I hope that students pursuing careers in energy management will utilize the tremendous resources that MSU offers as a liberal arts institution… The decisions we make about how we use the Earth’s resources will affect the futures of families throughout the world. I think it is imperative for anyone pursuing a career in the energy field to have this in the forefront of his or her mind.”

As such, Snowden demonstrated that understanding as he explained that the use of coal is most harmful to the environment.

“Everybody likes the idea of wind farms and solar [energy], but what do you do when the sun is not shining and when the wind is not blowing? What do you burn? Where do you get energy? The best idea right now is that we use natural gas. It’s much cleaner than coal,” Snowden said. “Nationally right now we’re getting 40% of our energy from coal—it’s closer to 70%, I think, in Texas—so, an electric car is great, but it’s not if you’re then basically driving a coal-powered car because you’re plugging it in and getting electricity.”

Additionally, Snowden said that, for now, it is best to minimize damages by implementing the only economically-viable resource available: natural gas.

“There is no perfect solution. There’s what’s least harmful,” he said. “The reason I would be more willing to go into the industry is that I’m more likely to change how things are done working for Exxon than I am sitting outside the front door with a picket sign.”

Regarding the oil and gas industry, Dodge said that “nobody’s hands are clean,” but that the companies of the worst reputation are actually contributing most to the search for renewable energy alternatives.

“They realize that we’re going to have to make a transition at some point from fossil fuel to renewables, because we will eventually run out of coal and oil and natural gas,” Dodge said, “but that’s not going to happen for decades. Your children and, potentially, your grandchildren are going to be driving cars fueled by gasoline because gasoline is the most efficient transportation fuel in the world and it’s cheap. Just do the economics.”

Likewise, Meddaugh said it wasn’t appropriate for students to point fingers at the university for inadvertently contributing to pollution and bad energy. Society as a whole must solve the problem addressed in university classrooms.

“I don’t feel like we are producing people whose goal is to continue polluting the environment,” Dodge said. “The students who are graduating in petroleum geology now are going to facilitate the transition during their lifetimes… You may not forget your impact on the environment, and our students don’t.”