ESF Academic Catalog
The Ranger School
Mariann Johnston, Director
Wanakena Campus
315-848-2566
315-848-3249 (fax)
The SUNY ESF Ranger School in Wanakena, N.Y., offers students a unique educational experience in a spectacular natural setting.
The Ranger School confers the associate in applied science degree (A.A.S.) in three areas of study: forest technology, land surveying technology, and environmental and natural resources conservation. Students attending the ESF Ranger School obtain their first-year coursework at ESF’s Syracuse campus or another college of their choice, then spend one full year in residence at the Ranger School to earn their A.A.S. degree. Upon graduation, many move directly into outdoor careers in the areas of conservation, forestry and surveying, while some use their A.A.S. as a hands-on, experience-based step toward a bachelor of science degree, earned at ESF's main campus in Syracuse, N.Y.
Academic Programs
Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) Degree
The Ranger School offers Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) degrees in three areas. Forest Technology, Land Surveying Technology, and Environmental & Natural Resources Conservation. The A.A.S. is typically earned with two years of study. For the Ranger School programs, this means one year of study at ESF’s Syracuse campus or another college of the student’s choice, followed by one intensive year of study in residence at the Ranger School campus in Wanakena NY.
The Ranger School A.A.S. degree may be combined with a four-year B.S. degree at the ESF Syracuse Campus or elsewhere. Ranger School graduates who go on to pursue the bachelor's degree have a solid hands-on field education that promotes their confidence, teamwork and leadership capabilities, and positions them to benefit from the deeper ecological and social understanding provided by the professional curriculum.
Students wishing to transfer from the Ranger School to the B.S. programs at the Syracuse campus will typically be admitted as juniors. Students entering programs in the Sustainable Resources Management Department will be given credit for the summer session in field forestry. Students entering Environmental Biology programs may petition for credit in Ecological Monitoring and Biological Diversity assessment at the Cranberry Lak Biological Station. They will still have to complete some physical sciences, social sciences and humanities requirements while in residence at Syracuse, depending on prior preparation.
NOTE: Students contemplating subsequent transfer should concentrate their freshman year electives in the social sciences and humanities.
NOTE: It is recommended that students complete the first semester in biology, one semester
in another science such as an additional biology, chemistry or physics and a course
in mathemathics prior to transferring. Students considering the Land Surveying Technology
program should take physics as the second science.
It is possible to be admitted without these courses, but subsequent progress in the
program becomes more difficult.