The first issue of the Campus Ecologist Newsletter was distributed in late 1983 and after 56 editions the last newsletter was published in 1996. In the last edition of the newsletter, it was announced that the Campus Ecologist Newsletter was going to change formats. What was envisioned at that time did not take place and no additional newsletters were published, but now as 2003 closes out there is indeed a change in format. The Campus Ecologist Newsletter is now "virtual." Will Barratt at Indiana State University has been and is the impetus for this "re-emergence" – what I referred to as the "second wind" for the concept of campus ecology.

By becoming a web based journal new opportunities now exist. The Campus Ecologist Newsletter will be replaced with the online journal The Campus Ecologist Journal (see the editorial board members and submission guidelines), resources and links will now be available not only to current materials but to archival material, a collection of photographs and photo essays will also be available, and there will be opportunities for sharing information and questions through the listserv associated with the website. In deed the format has now change!

What has not changed is the focus on campus ecology. The concept of campus ecology can be defined as the study of the campus as an ecological system made up of three components – organisms/inhabitants (students, faculty, staff, visitors, others), settings/environments both social (the curriculum, the co-curriculum, the extra-curriculum, and other social functions) and the physical (buildings, landscapes, walkways, and other natural and built features of the environment), and the activities/behaviors (learning, research, personal development, and other outcomes specific to higher education). Most importantly, the concept of campus ecology focuses our attention on the myriad of mutually interdependent relationships among inhabitants, environments, and behaviors with a special emphasis of how the ecology of the campus can support or hinder the traditional goals of student growth and development.

To be a campus ecologist means to have a "mind set" that behavior is not just a function of intra and inter psychological variables, but the social and physical environment is always in a transactional relationship with the these important person variables. This website is dedicated to providing a "virtual" opportunity for the exchange of information, ideas, and resources about students and their environment – campus ecology.

Jim Banning