Agronomy & Horticulture Department Update

Dr. Roch Gaussoin Author

01/07/2016 Added

198 Plays

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Department Update from Department Head

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[00:00:01.072]Thanks, Richard.
[00:00:01.931]A couple of comments before I start some,
[00:00:03.905]sort of some more database-sort of things,
[00:00:06.064]and the question was really,
[00:00:08.548]that was a really good question.
[00:00:09.779]I appreciate that coming from the crowd.
[00:00:11.265]When I started here,
[00:00:13.146]25 years ago actually as an extension specialist,
[00:00:16.814]I remember my first couple of years here thinking,
[00:00:18.788]well this will be a nice place to hang out
[00:00:20.274]until something better comes along.
[00:00:23.037]Well, it hasn't come yet,
[00:00:25.034]and when I first started here, I used to tell people,
[00:00:27.077]"You know, Nebraska's a really well-kept secret,"
[00:00:30.096]and I don't think that's really as true today.
[00:00:32.510]We have work to do.
[00:00:33.486]As true today as it was 25 years ago.
[00:00:36.945]I get the opportunity to go to department head meetings
[00:00:39.894]for both horticulture and agronomy
[00:00:41.380]since we're a blended department
[00:00:43.261]and we've got administrators at other institutions
[00:00:46.767]going, "What the heck is going on at Nebraska?
[00:00:49.460]"How are you doing this?"
[00:00:50.784]And it's the vision of,
[00:00:52.804]it's the vision of Ronnie and the deans and others
[00:00:55.637]at the institute that make that happen,
[00:00:57.308]so they deserve a huge vote of confidence
[00:01:01.302]as well as accolades for what they've done
[00:01:03.717]because we're bigger, we're better,
[00:01:06.271]and we are,
[00:01:07.757]we're not just that little blip in the radar anymore,
[00:01:10.032]we're recognized,
[00:01:11.681]not just us as a department,
[00:01:12.772]but the institute in general,
[00:01:15.164]and as Ronnie mentioned,
[00:01:16.464]we're on our way, but we've got work to do.
[00:01:18.414]And, I think you'll see some stuff going on today
[00:01:20.365]that in 10, 15, 20 years people will be talking about
[00:01:23.708]as sort of legendary, cutting-edge research
[00:01:25.868]and students being educated at a level that
[00:01:28.747]was unseen at the institute previous to this,
[00:01:32.648]so I would like to, actually before I get into the more
[00:01:36.107]formal part.
[00:01:36.990]We do have a fair amount of administrators
[00:01:38.731]that took time out of their busy schedules to be here.
[00:01:41.355]Doctor Chuck Hibbard is our Dean of Extension.
[00:01:43.677]If Chuck, if you could take a wave please,
[00:01:45.372]thank you.
[00:01:46.579]Doctor Ron Yoder is the Associate Vice Chancellor
[00:01:49.923]in the institute,
[00:01:50.921]so when Ronnie's not there,
[00:01:52.291]Ron has to do the work.
[00:01:54.195]Seems appropriate to me,
[00:01:55.681]given they both have sort of the same name,
[00:01:57.771]one with more of a southern tilt to it
[00:02:01.114]and then Archie Clutter, the agriculture research
[00:02:03.854]division dean who's at the door,
[00:02:05.665]as well as some of their staff.
[00:02:07.244]Jill Brown who does a lot of great work
[00:02:09.148]for the institute as well,
[00:02:11.214]so, just it shows you the commitment they've made
[00:02:13.954]to our department and Ronnie mentioned it.
[00:02:16.090]They,
[00:02:16.833]we,
[00:02:17.716]we're treated really, really, really well.
[00:02:19.457]It makes my job a little easier.
[00:02:21.524]We're not always in agreement.
[00:02:23.637]I think Ronnie mentioned that.
[00:02:25.169]I'm probably in disagreement more than they know,
[00:02:27.746]but we manage to get some things,
[00:02:30.068]we manage to get some things done.
[00:02:32.924]So I'm going to go ahead and start this.
[00:02:37.568]Was it okay to say that?
[00:02:38.752]We'll find out later.
[00:02:40.842](audience laughs)
[00:02:55.702]So, you're going to hear some really great things
[00:02:58.140]a little bit later, right?
[00:02:59.301]And I don't want to belabor that,
[00:03:01.019]but I do want to show you,
[00:03:01.994]if we're talking about growing our future,
[00:03:03.364]how are we doing that?
[00:03:04.595]And you'll see some data here in a little bit
[00:03:06.127]that will go into that in more detail,
[00:03:09.494]but, we're going to give you some idea of how we're
[00:03:11.096]structured and what we've done differently in the last,
[00:03:13.441]and this is really a four year-update.
[00:03:15.554]This doesn't disregard the great work that was done
[00:03:18.108]prior to my
[00:03:19.827]job as head,
[00:03:20.477]but this is what I know and know best.
[00:03:22.636]But this is our academic flow chart,
[00:03:24.285]so it kind of gives you an idea.
[00:03:25.771]When Doctor Green mentioned we're the largest academic
[00:03:28.301]unit in the university system,
[00:03:30.322]every time I hear that I'm wondering,
[00:03:31.529]what the heck am I doing
[00:03:33.363]in front of this group?
[00:03:34.826]Because this is what it looks like.
[00:03:36.266]We have a head and an associate head,
[00:03:38.680]and Richard is really more of a partner to me
[00:03:41.026]than a subordinate.
[00:03:42.558]I don't think we deal with each other
[00:03:44.114]as supervisor and subordinate,
[00:03:46.784]it's a really a unique situation,
[00:03:48.734]and then we have our faculty
[00:03:50.685]which are housed all over the place.
[00:03:53.030]We have faculty that are in buildings.
[00:03:56.280]Many of you know Keim, Kiesselbach,
[00:03:58.742]you know, in recent years the Beetle Center.
[00:04:00.738]We have faculty in Chase,
[00:04:02.364]obviously faculty in Plant Science.
[00:04:04.639]We had faculty in Filly
[00:04:06.822]and when they moved to NIC,
[00:04:10.305]the NIC campus, then obviously,
[00:04:12.000]we now have some faculty that are physically
[00:04:14.252]in Nebraska Innovation Campus,
[00:04:16.876]and then because that moved,
[00:04:18.524]then because we were at saturation in terms of space
[00:04:20.916]we gained some space in Filly hall,
[00:04:23.307]so, all this moving around and positioning
[00:04:25.769]is actually beneficial,
[00:04:27.278]so it's not just Innovation Campus,
[00:04:29.391]but when that space became available,
[00:04:31.132]then we were able to pick up some really premium lab space
[00:04:33.872]as well as office space.
[00:04:36.692]We also have the Research and Extension centers
[00:04:38.805]that are critical to what we do
[00:04:40.685]and we have faculty, that their tenure home
[00:04:43.193]is agronomy and horticulture.
[00:04:44.586]You'll see reference to them a little bit later,
[00:04:46.699]but we have the Panhandle Research and Extension Center,
[00:04:49.346]the West Central Research and Extension Center
[00:04:51.018]in North Platte,
[00:04:52.364]and the Northeast Research and Extension Center
[00:04:55.128]in the northeast,
[00:04:56.056]primarily the research part is at Concord.
[00:04:58.564]And you're going to hear a little bit from Charlie Shapiro
[00:05:00.236]later about some of the work that he's conducting here.
[00:05:02.627]We don't do this without those
[00:05:05.622]locations.
[00:05:06.667]We can't do what we do
[00:05:08.664]and we're really, really blessed in that
[00:05:10.684]we have this unbelievable range of environments
[00:05:15.305]that we can grow crops in,
[00:05:16.953]and so that allows us to,
[00:05:18.625]when we bring a student in,
[00:05:20.413]they can hear about soybean production,
[00:05:22.247]they can hear about corn,
[00:05:23.826]they can hear about wheat,
[00:05:24.941]but they also can hear about sugar beets
[00:05:26.752]and other crops that would be less familiar
[00:05:29.050]if you go further east,
[00:05:30.536]or even if you go further south,
[00:05:31.883]so it's an opportunity that we don't have.
[00:05:34.043]We've got a diversity of soils from east to west
[00:05:36.600]that is very, very unique,
[00:05:38.102]so, Nebraska is just perfectly positioned for agronomy
[00:05:41.534]and horticulture department.
[00:05:43.369]We have colleagues in the USDA
[00:05:45.667]that we couldn't work without.
[00:05:47.339]We also have a program that's, you know,
[00:05:49.034]affiliated with the instute,
[00:05:50.451]but we have faculty that teach
[00:05:52.169]in the Doctor of Plant Health program
[00:05:54.003]which is an outstanding program in the unit,
[00:05:56.209]and then we also have the Pesticide Safety
[00:05:59.065]and Environmental program which is how everyone
[00:06:01.665]in the state gets certified,
[00:06:02.733]run by Clyde Ogg, one of our extension
[00:06:04.568]educations who physically is housed in our department
[00:06:07.679]so that's sort of the complexity from the academic
[00:06:10.767]end of things.
[00:06:12.137]The dashed lines sort of represent that they're
[00:06:13.786]affiliated but not structurally within that particular
[00:06:18.197]purview.
[00:06:20.078]Now the staffing,
[00:06:20.751]and this is,
[00:06:21.703]I want to spend a little more time on staffing
[00:06:23.073]because we've done some things that I think
[00:06:24.884]are relatively creative
[00:06:26.463]but we've also,
[00:06:27.972]we don't,
[00:06:28.762]this,
[00:06:29.180]we can talk all we want about the faculty,
[00:06:30.945]and with due respect to all the great work we do,
[00:06:32.941]but we have an infrastructure of staff
[00:06:34.660]that is,
[00:06:35.890]I think it's as good as any department
[00:06:37.446]in the university system
[00:06:38.839]because they are there to assist us
[00:06:40.511]in pretty much everything we do.
[00:06:41.532]We've added three positions.
[00:06:43.367]Some of you may have met Wendy Morrisey
[00:06:45.921]at the front desk.
[00:06:46.687]She's our event planner,
[00:06:48.173]or I'm not sure if there's another department
[00:06:50.681]that physically has an event planner,
[00:06:52.515]and that was an offer from a commodity group,
[00:06:54.860]the Nebraska Turf Grass Association said,
[00:06:56.741]"You know, we need some help.
[00:06:57.879]"We can't run our association effectively
[00:07:00.479]"and we're so closely aligned with you,
[00:07:01.849]"we'll fund half of a professional-level position"
[00:07:04.914]and now we charge a fee to
[00:07:07.793]other programs like Crop Protection Clinic.
[00:07:10.417]They are getting their events done
[00:07:11.833]much more efficiently
[00:07:13.017]and economically than they ever would have,
[00:07:14.828]and it wouldn't have happened without somebody
[00:07:16.732]being able to hire somebody as an event planner
[00:07:19.077]but not only somebody in that role
[00:07:21.283]but also somebody as good as Wendy,
[00:07:23.002]and she was attracted,
[00:07:24.139]her husband got a degree in horticulture
[00:07:26.090]in our department when it was an independent
[00:07:28.644]department so there was that affiliation
[00:07:30.548]and that association,
[00:07:31.500]knowing that this would be a good place to come
[00:07:33.752]for her work, and that's been outstanding.
[00:07:36.794]We have,
[00:07:37.606]we had a graphic designer but now we've added two
[00:07:40.067]and really, we have two skill sets in that arena
[00:07:42.436]both print media as well as
[00:07:46.174]scientific illustration and web design,
[00:07:48.496]so that combination, if it hadn't been for
[00:07:50.655]Atlanta (mumbles), Atlanta Johnson,
[00:07:53.297]doing an amazing job and that allows the
[00:07:55.573]faculty to do more of what they do,
[00:07:57.314]so if they need a recruiting brochure
[00:07:58.893]or if they need a Power Point,
[00:08:00.101]you know a special Power Point,
[00:08:01.238]they need pictures taken at an event,
[00:08:03.073]that's what they're there for.
[00:08:04.628]Now, did we give up any other position to make that
[00:08:06.648]happen?
[00:08:07.600]Perhaps, but these are positions that are more
[00:08:10.270]for the good of the cause
[00:08:11.687]rather than a single program
[00:08:13.846]or a group of faculty,
[00:08:15.541]so I thought that was real important
[00:08:17.074]that we moved that direction
[00:08:18.397]and I think most of the faculty have bought into it
[00:08:20.440]in utilizing those people really, really well.
[00:08:24.272]We also added a Safety Coordinator,
[00:08:25.897]at least in the labs,
[00:08:27.104]that are on the east campus.
[00:08:30.053]We didn't have a Safety Coordinator before
[00:08:32.120]and I wouldn't say that we got written up
[00:08:33.954]any more than any other university,
[00:08:35.927]but we've established a relationship
[00:08:37.483]with the Safety,
[00:08:38.783]Environmental Health and Safety at the university
[00:08:40.409]that's going to result in really positive things.
[00:08:43.218]Plus, with all the new hires,
[00:08:44.751]this individual's helping with the startup package
[00:08:46.956]and the purchase and the negotiation
[00:08:49.348]for the analytical equipment,
[00:08:51.206]so that adds a really nice other level as well.
[00:08:54.503]Then underneath that, we have all these buildings
[00:08:56.871]we operate out of.
[00:08:57.800]The ones that are in a little bit of a lighter color,
[00:08:59.750]we don't have any authority,
[00:09:02.049]for lack of a better term,
[00:09:02.862]in the Beetle Center,
[00:09:03.883]but we do have faculty housed there
[00:09:05.485]and we do help them anyway we can.
[00:09:07.738]The Greenhouse and Growth Chamber Facilities,
[00:09:09.850]we used to have them in our unit
[00:09:11.778]but then Agriculture Research Division
[00:09:14.425]umbrellas them now,
[00:09:15.539]but we have a lot of area that we utilize
[00:09:18.674]in that arena as well, so,
[00:09:20.647]you look at that and it doesn't happen without the
[00:09:23.410]staffing, and it's something higher than that.
[00:09:25.755]I didn't update this slide,
[00:09:26.777]but it's about 85 staff just on campus.
[00:09:30.353]That's exclusive of the Research and Extension Centers
[00:09:32.768]who also have great staff that make it happen for them,
[00:09:35.670]and then finally, I want to mention one last staff member
[00:09:38.503]and that's our facilities coordinator.
[00:09:40.639]T.J. McAndrew is responsible for all our buildings
[00:09:43.773]on east campus as well as
[00:09:46.908]all of our farms,
[00:09:47.906]the Havelock Farm,
[00:09:49.067]the Farm at the ARDC,
[00:09:50.902]and the farm on campus,
[00:09:52.898]and I think he's sort of like a Mini Me
[00:09:57.078]in that he deals with the Disneyland of faculty that we have
[00:10:01.489]and I mean that in a positive way, mostly,
[00:10:04.554]but there are a lot of demands on a daily basis
[00:10:06.876]and there's no reason for a faculty member
[00:10:08.757]not to think that their work is important
[00:10:11.125]and so, T.J. runs interference on a lot of the concerns
[00:10:14.748]and complaints about facilities,
[00:10:16.628]and I couldn't do what I do without T.J.,
[00:10:19.229]and I think most of you in the room that have had the
[00:10:20.877]opportunity to work with T.J.
[00:10:22.247]when he's not in a bad mood,
[00:10:23.919]are pretty happy with the kind of work
[00:10:25.544]that he does.
[00:10:27.332]This is the,
[00:10:28.145]this is the,
[00:10:29.213]if you, you know, if you consider about the passion
[00:10:31.303]and the brilliance of our scientists
[00:10:34.089]and our extension people and our teaching faculty,
[00:10:37.224]it doesn't function without these people,
[00:10:39.058]so, just keep that in mind.
[00:10:40.962]The people you work with are important
[00:10:42.843]and it doesn't matter what level or hierarchy they are.
[00:10:46.302]I prefer not to think of it as a hierarchy.
[00:10:49.367]So what have we done in the last four years
[00:10:51.039]in terms of retirements, new hires?
[00:10:53.709]We do lose faculty on occasion for various reasons
[00:10:58.074]and then we're going to talk about the numbers,
[00:10:59.328]what that looks like.
[00:11:00.466]We'll look at promotion and tenures,
[00:11:02.602]awards and recognition,
[00:11:03.670]and you know, we can always look forward
[00:11:06.688]but we must look back at the people that
[00:11:08.662]got us to this point in our time
[00:11:10.264]and we'll have a little short section at the end
[00:11:12.609]about in remembrance of those people that brought
[00:11:14.838]us here.
[00:11:16.278]So, who have we had retire in the last,
[00:11:19.320]last four years?
[00:11:20.411]In 2012 and 2013,
[00:11:22.315]Bob Klein at the West Central Research and Extension
[00:11:26.355]Center in North Platte.
[00:11:27.562]52 years.
[00:11:29.815]That's just phenomenal to me,
[00:11:31.254]and you know, he's still hanging out.
[00:11:33.158]I mean, he's still there, helping the new faculty
[00:11:35.457]and helping the system run.
[00:11:36.920]Just world renowned for his
[00:11:40.472]work in sprayer technologies.
[00:11:42.051]He's passed on that expertise to Greg Kruger
[00:11:44.535]who has then expanded it even further
[00:11:47.136]and that foundational piece was critical.
[00:11:49.202]I'm sure Greg would agree,
[00:11:50.271]couldn't have done it without Bob's foundation.
[00:11:53.591]John Yohe was with the INSTORMIL,
[00:11:55.890]which, you know, INSTORMIL went aside
[00:11:57.515]and he'd been with sort of an affiliate role with,
[00:12:00.649]for 28 years.
[00:12:02.368]Roy Spalding was jointly in the School
[00:12:05.061]of Natural Resources as well as our unit,
[00:12:07.174]and Roy brought expertise in in water science.
[00:12:13.025]In 2014, one of our legends is Jim Specht,
[00:12:17.646]our soybean physiologist and breeder
[00:12:20.432]and he gave us 40 years of his life and continues
[00:12:24.008]to show up and
[00:12:26.724]interact with the new faculty and the program.
[00:12:29.186]We have one of the preeminent soybean programs
[00:12:32.134]in the world, in my humble opinion
[00:12:33.992]and it wouldn't have happened without this foundational
[00:12:36.616]work that Doctor Specht did.
[00:12:39.007]Bob Wilson out of the Panhandle Research
[00:12:40.818]and Extension Center, still to this day,
[00:12:43.233]is asked to interact with the people working with
[00:12:45.694]weed management and very complex cropping systems
[00:12:48.736]so we were sorry to see Bob go,
[00:12:51.662]but we do have replacements for many of these people.
[00:12:55.121]Tom Elthon was really intimately involved with the students,
[00:12:57.722]used to be in the School of Biological Sciences
[00:12:59.974]and then essentially moved into our department
[00:13:02.203]to teach fundamental courses
[00:13:03.944]that were not being taught in
[00:13:06.731]the School of Biological Sciences
[00:13:08.519]at the level we felt our students needed,
[00:13:10.562]so we brought Tom in
[00:13:11.885]and he taught plant anatomy and botany for us
[00:13:14.695]and did a great job and retired
[00:13:17.086]and bought a van and is traveling around the country
[00:13:19.246]and some of you may have never had any interaction
[00:13:21.753]with Tom.
[00:13:22.427]When you do, he was a very unique individual
[00:13:24.934]and an amazing committee member
[00:13:27.233]in faculty committees for graduate students
[00:13:31.389]so, these are people that we've lost
[00:13:34.988]due to retirement.
[00:13:36.683]Gary Hergert, 40 years as a soil fertility specialist
[00:13:40.398]in, at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center.
[00:13:43.881]Did some really solid work
[00:13:47.410]in terms of nutrient management
[00:13:50.150]in somewhat lighter soils than we're used to
[00:13:52.495]in the eastern part of the state.
[00:13:54.214]Tom Hoegemeyer,
[00:13:55.537]he wasn't here very long,
[00:13:57.743]but Tom was a unique hire in that we called it
[00:14:00.668]a breeder in residence and we have a really strong
[00:14:03.501]distance program and we needed some expertise
[00:14:06.009]and why not utilize somebody that comes from industry?
[00:14:08.772]And Tom really hasn't retired because he now serves
[00:14:11.906]as a chair of our agronomy and horticulture alumni
[00:14:14.646]advisory council.
[00:14:16.364]Laurie Hodges was our
[00:14:18.315]Extension Vegetable Specialist for 26 years.
[00:14:22.309]So, those are the people that we lost,
[00:14:25.072]for lack of a better term.
[00:14:25.884]Many of them are still actively involved,
[00:14:27.742]still serve on committees,
[00:14:28.647]still have students they are finishing up,
[00:14:30.458]still helping the new hires along.
[00:14:33.988]And that's just sort of the, you know,
[00:14:36.240]you can call it a community or you can call it a family,
[00:14:38.399]whatever you're comfortable with,
[00:14:39.583]but that's that whole,
[00:14:40.535]the mentality among the people that work in our department,
[00:14:43.345]at least in my opinion.
[00:14:45.853]Obviously, families fight on occasion as well.
[00:14:48.685]New hires.
[00:14:49.614]These are just 2012 and 2013,
[00:14:52.191]Humberto Blanco is a soil management specialist.
[00:14:54.908]Little brief story about Humberto.
[00:14:57.276]He shows up,
[00:14:58.507]two weeks later he's teaching 75 students
[00:15:01.409]in the soil management course.
[00:15:03.128]I'm not sure he really knew what hit him
[00:15:04.939]and then he managed to find a way to teach 75 students
[00:15:07.980]extremely creatively.
[00:15:09.559]Patricio Grassini is,
[00:15:11.393]you'll see his name when we talk about awards.
[00:15:14.226]Cropping system specialist,
[00:15:16.362]agronomist, he's primarily,
[00:15:18.777]it was a DWFI, Daughtery Water for Food hire,
[00:15:22.608]and works in crop modeling.
[00:15:24.907]Amit Jhala is assistant professor in weed management.
[00:15:28.367]He's managed to establish a program relatively quickly.
[00:15:32.360]We picked up the popcorn program
[00:15:35.193]from ConAgra.
[00:15:36.725]They essentially said, "We're not doing a very good job
[00:15:39.047]"of it, can you take this over for us?"
[00:15:40.719]And you'll hear from Oscar a little bit later.
[00:15:42.716]Oscar Rodriguez is our popcorn breeder.
[00:15:45.665]Haishun Yang is an associate professor
[00:15:47.081]in crop modeling.
[00:15:48.428]He was a,
[00:15:50.053]was working at Monsanto
[00:15:51.469]and we were able to hire him away
[00:15:52.932]to work on some of our modeling efforts.
[00:15:55.254]Dirac Twidwell,
[00:15:58.389]I think we should call him the Flame,
[00:16:00.246]because he,
[00:16:01.523]this,
[00:16:02.615]Doctor Twidwell is into fire
[00:16:04.588]in a big way.
[00:16:06.330]I would never have wanted to be his parents,
[00:16:08.094]but...
[00:16:08.907](audience laughs)
[00:16:10.300]But that said, he's a range land ecologist
[00:16:12.435]that's bringing it for the students in that program
[00:16:14.966]and brought in another level of expertise
[00:16:18.077]to the already well-established program
[00:16:20.213]that (mumbles) without a formal title essentially leads.
[00:16:27.667]Roger Elmore was,
[00:16:28.897]we brought in,
[00:16:30.128]Roger left us,
[00:16:31.591]went to Iowa State as the corn agronomist
[00:16:33.843]and then we were able to recruit him back
[00:16:35.259]as one of the Daugherty Water for Food hires
[00:16:37.836]as a systems agronomist,
[00:16:39.044]and many of you have seen him out and about,
[00:16:41.226]especially those of you who operate in the corn and bean
[00:16:43.850]realm in the eastern part of the state.
[00:16:46.358]We, that was,
[00:16:47.078]that was a very strategic hire at least in my opinion.
[00:16:50.328]Daren Redfearn, associate professor in forage and
[00:16:53.440]crop residue specialist.
[00:16:54.879]This idea that we should be looking at the crop residues
[00:16:58.710]as a forage type,
[00:17:00.266]and I'm oversimplifying the great work
[00:17:01.961]that Daren does,
[00:17:03.517]and if you get a chance to talk to Daren,
[00:17:05.769]it's just the little bit of drawl in his voice
[00:17:08.880]is just entertaining,
[00:17:10.645]so, we all bring something to the table.
[00:17:12.502]Daren brings expertise as well as a really cool accent.
[00:17:16.473]Bill Kreuser is the assistant professor
[00:17:18.330]and extension turf grass specialist.
[00:17:21.349]He came to use from work in Wisconsin
[00:17:24.530]and Cornell,
[00:17:26.573]and a good hire in a discipline that's very, very
[00:17:30.219]near and dear to my heart,
[00:17:31.565]so I was keeping a little closer eye on the turf hire.
[00:17:35.141]Daniel Schachtman, who you're going to hear about
[00:17:36.929]from a little bit later
[00:17:38.601]was a,
[00:17:39.251]also pulled away from industry, from Monsanto.
[00:17:41.805]He's a professor in plant molecular physiologist
[00:17:45.264]and he was just here a short time
[00:17:46.774]before the
[00:17:49.281]administration keyed on his capacity as an administrator
[00:17:52.068]so he's also the Director of the Center for Biotechnology.
[00:17:56.015]I don't have a slide of this, but you also need to know that
[00:17:58.917]Daniel, as well as others in this room,
[00:18:00.844]including Tom Clemente and Ismail Dweikat
[00:18:04.676]got one of the largest single grants
[00:18:07.531]from DOE, correct?
[00:18:09.330]Is that the right funding agency?
[00:18:12.371]Close to $14 million.
[00:18:14.182]And, you know,
[00:18:15.785]I didn't get to shake Harvey's hand, but Daniel did,
[00:18:18.269]so, I think that, you know,
[00:18:20.243]if it costs 14 million to shake Harvey's hand then
[00:18:22.356]so be it, but,
[00:18:23.749]that's the kind of people we're hiring.
[00:18:25.235]Just putting it in perspective.
[00:18:27.441]Brian Krienke is an extension,
[00:18:29.739]assistant extension educator
[00:18:31.063]in soil fertility.
[00:18:32.084]You'll hear from Brian a little bit later.
[00:18:33.501]He works on a program with some county-based
[00:18:35.614]extension educators that is really solid
[00:18:37.982]and really
[00:18:41.140]being adopted by
[00:18:43.554]the stakeholders out there.
[00:18:46.527]Computational biology.
[00:18:48.384]Now, 25 years ago, when I was in grad school
[00:18:50.543]at, oh wait, Michigan State University,
[00:18:54.305]GBR, no go green, no go white, all right?
[00:18:58.136]Paul, are you in agreement?
[00:18:59.854]We're both Michigan State grads.
[00:19:02.292]But, the,
[00:19:04.544]I didn't know what a computational biologist was.
[00:19:06.286]I didn't know what, you know, the microbiome was,
[00:19:08.724]and that's the sort of stuff we talk about now,
[00:19:10.814]and you're going to hear about that today.
[00:19:13.298]But James comes to us with a,
[00:19:15.156]from the Danford Center with a great expertise
[00:19:17.454]in computational biology
[00:19:18.754]because now we're talking about huge data sets
[00:19:21.262]and Keenan Anderson will give a short presentation
[00:19:24.351]on bioinformatics and large data management
[00:19:27.462]because it's very different than what we all grew up
[00:19:30.388]doing, for those of us that are a little bit on in years.
[00:19:34.242]2015 hires.
[00:19:35.705]Sophie Alvarez is a research associate professor
[00:19:39.397]and she's
[00:19:41.347]dealing with these pieces of analytical equipment
[00:19:43.715]that, once again,
[00:19:45.526]weren't even available at the level they are today
[00:19:48.173]and she's a critical cog.
[00:19:49.683]She works in the Center for Biotechnology.
[00:19:52.492]Cody Creech is an assistant professor
[00:19:54.791]and dryland cropping systems specialist
[00:19:56.555]in western Nebraska at the Panhandle Research
[00:19:59.342]and Extension Center.
[00:20:01.339]Essentially, those of you that remember Drew Lyon,
[00:20:03.800]it's a replacement,
[00:20:05.263]I know that's not how we're supposed to use it
[00:20:06.934]for that particular position,
[00:20:08.815]and Cody was actually trained under Greg Kruger
[00:20:12.344]at the, at the,
[00:20:14.063]West Central, so, we've,
[00:20:16.036]he already has that expertise,
[00:20:17.220]he's from that part of the world,
[00:20:18.683]a really nice additionn.
[00:20:20.262]David Hyten, an associate professor who we were
[00:20:22.445]able to recruit away from Pioneer,
[00:20:25.556]soybean genetics and genomics
[00:20:27.251]and he brings some skill sets that,
[00:20:30.409]in sequencing that we're going to be able to enhance
[00:20:35.053]with his arrival.
[00:20:38.094]Nevin Lawrence.
[00:20:38.860]Nevin doesn't start 'til 2016
[00:20:40.648]and so I had to go to the web for a picture.
[00:20:42.808]That's not the official
[00:20:45.385]approved picture for faculty in our unit,
[00:20:48.264]and I will,
[00:20:49.913]when Nevin gets here, I'm going to have to say,
[00:20:51.886]ask him why he shot the smallest pronghorn antelope
[00:20:54.162]in Wyoming, but,
[00:20:55.601]that's just me.
[00:20:56.437](audience laughs)
[00:20:58.457]But he's an assistant professor and integrated
[00:21:00.036]weed management specialist at the
[00:21:02.915]Panhandle Research and Extension Center.
[00:21:04.866]Chris Proctor is an extension educator,
[00:21:07.141]but we have extension educators that are not
[00:21:09.115]county-based, but they're department-based,
[00:21:11.367]and these are nice additions.
[00:21:12.365]He's working in weed management.
[00:21:14.873]We'll talk about who left that position here in a minute.
[00:21:16.963]Vikas Shedge is a research assistant professor
[00:21:18.983]in molecular biology.
[00:21:23.464]Wait, we're not done yet.
[00:21:24.788]This is crazy.
[00:21:27.411]Brandi Sigmon is a research assistant professor
[00:21:29.362]in comparitive genomics,
[00:21:30.801]working in the Mower Lab in the Beetle Center.
[00:21:34.006]She brings some really outstanding skill
[00:21:36.769]in stuff I have trouble pronouncing
[00:21:39.578]let alone understanding, but,
[00:21:41.621]that's a need that we have
[00:21:42.898]with this new, exciting
[00:21:46.033]era that we're in.
[00:21:47.380]Meghan Sindelar is an assistant professor of practice.
[00:21:50.143]I haven't mentioned these,
[00:21:51.373]what we call P.O.P.'s.
[00:21:53.347]These are usually MS or PhD-level faculty,
[00:21:56.203]non-tenure track
[00:21:57.828]and predominantly teaching
[00:21:59.779]because we have such a,
[00:22:00.847]we've had a huge increase in undergraduates,
[00:22:03.842]as well as graduate students, but mostly
[00:22:05.119]in undergraduates and we're filling the,
[00:22:07.069]there were some gaps that needed to be filled
[00:22:08.950]and so we hired Meghan to come in and teach
[00:22:11.690]not just in plant science but also in soil science,
[00:22:14.662]and she's working out really, really well.
[00:22:16.961]Mitch Stephenson is an assistant professor
[00:22:19.770]at the once again,
[00:22:20.560]the Panhandle Research and Extension Center
[00:22:22.487]and a range and forage management specialist,
[00:22:25.691]and, you know, we've done all these interviews
[00:22:27.967]so last count,
[00:22:29.011]I've had the opportunity as has Richard and commitee
[00:22:32.889]members, to, you know, talk about 150 different people
[00:22:36.140]and they, you know,
[00:22:37.626]all of them had been vetted by a search committee
[00:22:40.342]and it's interesting to see some of the things they've done.
[00:22:42.989]You know, Mitchell radio calls our cows
[00:22:44.754]and then tracks their grazing habits
[00:22:47.076]to more effectively utilize pastures,
[00:22:50.791]so I thought that was pretty intriguing to me.
[00:22:52.648]Zhen Wang is a research assistant professor in genomics
[00:22:56.085]and phenomics research.
[00:22:57.803]So that brings us to
[00:22:59.544]the ones that we've hired.
[00:23:01.541]We've still got some open positions.
[00:23:02.679]We just finished a
[00:23:05.070]interview for an environmental horticulturist
[00:23:07.532]and we have yet to extend an offer.
[00:23:09.621]That should happen in the not-too-distant future.
[00:23:11.897]The Gary Hergert position at the Panhandle,
[00:23:15.635]soil and nutrient management position
[00:23:17.121]has been approved by upper administration
[00:23:19.420]and it's now being advertised
[00:23:21.184]as is also true of the integrated turf grass management
[00:23:23.785]specialist that'll be campus based
[00:23:26.409]and then a cropping systems specialist
[00:23:29.265]that we've interviewed for and we're in the process of
[00:23:31.981]trying to close the deal on an outstanding candidate.
[00:23:35.952]So what are the numbers?
[00:23:38.506]Oh, here's a faculty moving on, sorry.
[00:23:41.339]2012 and 2013, nobody left.
[00:23:43.266]That was a good thing.
[00:23:44.357]In 2014, Lowell Sandell who was an extension educator
[00:23:47.190]in weed science, got a great opportunity from
[00:23:51.996]Valent Chemical and he left us,
[00:23:55.386]but he is still actively involved in providing funding now
[00:23:57.824]to our weed scientists on campus.
[00:24:00.541]Steve Rodie left the University of Nebraska, Lincoln,
[00:24:03.815]but the joined the faculty at the University of Nebraska,
[00:24:06.531]Omaha, as a director of their sustainability program.
[00:24:10.432]Deana Namuth-Covert took a position
[00:24:13.009]in distance ed with Ohio State University.
[00:24:17.003]In 2015, Zac Reicher went to work for Bayer CropScience.
[00:24:21.136]Aaron Lorenz unfortunately took an academic position
[00:24:23.597]at Minnesota.
[00:24:24.874]He was one of our up and comers,
[00:24:26.871]and, but now that he's working in soybeans,
[00:24:29.541]we're probably still going to see quite a bit of Aaron.
[00:24:32.815]Gilles Basset and Anna Block are husband and wife
[00:24:35.207]and Gilles was in the biochemistry department,
[00:24:38.388]Anna was in our department
[00:24:39.874]and Anna was made a really good offer in Florida
[00:24:43.333]and
[00:24:45.678]Gilles wanted to make sure Anna had the opportunity
[00:24:47.281]to expand her horizons a little bit,
[00:24:49.301]so, unfortunately, we lost both of them.
[00:24:54.711]So what are the numbers, last four years?
[00:24:56.870]Not going to get bogged down in the math, but,
[00:24:58.658]we're looking at a net gain if we include the four
[00:25:00.678]positions that we're currently,
[00:25:03.116]currently seeking or advertising for,
[00:25:05.415]or getting ready to advert for.
[00:25:06.622]It looks like we've gained about 10 faculty.
[00:25:10.360]That's exclusive, in the last couple of years
[00:25:13.146]that Mark Lagrimini was department head,
[00:25:15.027]we picked up about four more,
[00:25:16.815]so our net gain in faculty is about 14
[00:25:20.159]in an already really large department,
[00:25:22.318]which has just increased the capacity
[00:25:24.361]of what we can do as a unit.
[00:25:25.917]It's been pretty exciting,
[00:25:27.798]so that includes faculty at the centers
[00:25:30.259]as well as extension educators which are non-tenure
[00:25:33.301]leaning faculty as well,
[00:25:35.205]research assistant professors and,
[00:25:38.803]and the professors of practice, so,
[00:25:40.289]it's a pretty good gain.
[00:25:41.543]So if we're growing our future,
[00:25:42.588]it's going to happen with these people
[00:25:44.005]and the staff they hire
[00:25:45.885]because usually everyone comes in and immediately
[00:25:47.394]hires a post-doc or a grad student,
[00:25:49.600]usually a technician,
[00:25:51.110]and often these students,
[00:25:53.106]excuse me, often these people become students
[00:25:55.057]and then get advanced degrees with us as well,
[00:25:57.030]so it's all a synergy that works really, really well.
[00:26:00.908]Promotions and tenures.
[00:26:02.301]Okay, so those of you that don't understand
[00:26:03.764]promotion and tenure,
[00:26:05.018]obviously you understand promotion
[00:26:06.109]but tenure is after six years,
[00:26:08.129]a faculty member goes up and gets what we call
[00:26:10.846]a continuous appointment,
[00:26:12.308]so they're on an annual basis prior to that,
[00:26:14.723]these are tenure-leaning faculty
[00:26:16.975]and then we also promote our extension educators as well
[00:26:19.739]as our professors of practice.
[00:26:22.269]In 2012 and 2013,
[00:26:24.870]we had three professors of practice
[00:26:26.890]go from the assistant to associate level,
[00:26:29.955]Stacy Adams, who you'll hear from a little bit later,
[00:26:32.555]Dave Lambe and Anne Streich,
[00:26:34.877]who you'll also hear from a little bit later.
[00:26:36.944]And then Gilles was
[00:26:39.800]given tenure in 2013.
[00:26:41.263]Unfortunately, we lost him.
[00:26:47.230]Promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2014,
[00:26:50.643]Jeff Mower, functional genomics and at the Beetle Center
[00:26:54.637]and Dipak Santra, an alternative crop breeder
[00:26:57.771]at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center,
[00:27:00.140]and then was promoted to full extension educator,
[00:27:02.462]so there's three levels just like there is for tenure-line.
[00:27:05.155]Clyde Ogg who has run our
[00:27:08.081]pesticide certification and recertification program
[00:27:11.192]in collaboration with the state of Nebraska for a long time
[00:27:14.350]and has a done a really stellar job of it
[00:27:16.138]and also on the side has done this work with
[00:27:19.853]K through 12, so, it's a really nice addition
[00:27:23.359]in recognition of his work.
[00:27:26.586]2015 was a big year for us.
[00:27:28.002]These are people that would have been hired under
[00:27:30.603]Doctor Lagrimini's watch
[00:27:32.298]except for Humberto because
[00:27:34.272]Humberto came here from K State
[00:27:35.990]with a fair amount of experience
[00:27:37.383]so he got promoted a little bit earlier than normal,
[00:27:40.517]but Humberto, John Guretzky in teaching
[00:27:44.093]research physician in range and,
[00:27:46.322]range science.
[00:27:47.297]David Holding, who is,
[00:27:50.223]works in
[00:27:52.963]plant breeding and genetics
[00:27:55.378]at the Beetle Center.
[00:27:56.353]Tim Shaver is a soil specialist
[00:27:58.744]at West Central Research and Extension Center.
[00:28:01.043]Brian Waters works in molecular nutrition and genetics
[00:28:05.617]and Harkamal Walia who you'll hear from,
[00:28:08.055]a little bit of extended time here,
[00:28:10.145]a molecular physiologist.
[00:28:12.653]And then, promoted to associate professor of practice,
[00:28:15.973]Leah Sandall, who you'll also hear
[00:28:17.296]a little bit later.
[00:28:18.155]She's our distance ed director and a really nice addition
[00:28:21.336]to a very aggressive program in distance education.
[00:28:27.327]This is where we brag.
[00:28:28.859]And when I saw we, I say collectively,
[00:28:30.926]and the snaps that Ronnie gave me earlier,
[00:28:33.828]that's not me.
[00:28:35.964]It's the department.
[00:28:37.984]In most instances, on any given day,
[00:28:40.678]I probably wonder why I'm doing it,
[00:28:42.466]but for the majority of the time,
[00:28:44.672]it's an amazing,
[00:28:46.459]it's like Mister Toad's wild ride in Disneyland, right?
[00:28:49.989]Because you never know what's going to be around
[00:28:51.730]the corner and you could start your day thinking
[00:28:54.493]you have this plan of action,
[00:28:56.699]it never works.
[00:28:57.814]Forget that that's ever going to happen,
[00:28:59.671]but it's always exciting and sometimes frustrating,
[00:29:03.061]and this happens because of the people we have.
[00:29:05.894]This is our grants in 2013, 2014.
[00:29:08.912]This is what impresses me the most
[00:29:10.607]is that the department of agronomy and horticulture
[00:29:13.208]is approximately at 10% of UNL's total
[00:29:16.853]in research and about 10 1/2% for competitively
[00:29:19.988]funded research grants.
[00:29:21.938]Understanding we're the biggest department,
[00:29:24.864]academic unit there is.
[00:29:26.164]I fully understand that, but for us to represent 10%
[00:29:29.206]of the total, pretty significant,
[00:29:30.901]so if you factor in all types of funding categories,
[00:29:33.246]we're at 6% of total and almost 7%
[00:29:36.961]of competitively funded dollars in the university system.
[00:29:41.117]This happens because of the faculty
[00:29:42.440]you're going to get an opportunity to interact with.
[00:29:44.577]This happens because of the Daniel Schachtman
[00:29:46.481]and the Tom Clemente's and the Ismail Dweikats who
[00:29:50.172]nail these 14,
[00:29:51.333]I keep on making it bigger, don't I, Daniel?
[00:29:52.912]It just keeps on getting bigger.
[00:29:53.841]Before we're done it's going to be 60 million
[00:29:55.931]or we only hope,
[00:29:57.115]but nearly $14 million.
[00:29:58.601]It's those kind of grants, so,
[00:30:00.249]in '14,
[00:30:01.109]'13 and '14, our total with not only research grants
[00:30:05.172]but also instruction and extension outreach
[00:30:09.258]as well as student aid, about,
[00:30:11.023]a little over $12 1/2 million,
[00:30:13.043]and that happens because of the faculty
[00:30:14.390]you're going to hear talking today,
[00:30:16.294]and that's,
[00:30:16.990]that's sort of our,
[00:30:19.126]we can't work without funding
[00:30:20.821]and funding becomes,
[00:30:21.820]as funding becomes more and more competitive,
[00:30:24.374]I find that our faculty
[00:30:27.276]hit or score
[00:30:29.552]across a lot of different funding agencies
[00:30:31.316]better than when I talk to my colleagues
[00:30:33.151]at head of other departments.
[00:30:34.962]So, that's a major,
[00:30:37.493]that's a major kudo for us.
[00:30:40.836]Awards and recognitions.
[00:30:42.090]Okay, I'm only going to talk about two here,
[00:30:43.553]but over lunch, you're going to see a scroll
[00:30:46.153]of all the awards that have happened in the last four years
[00:30:48.731]but I do want to single out two,
[00:30:50.008]and Ronnie briefly mentioned this.
[00:30:51.517]There was the creation of these presidential chairs,
[00:30:54.605]so this would be the highest level
[00:30:56.950]of professorship in the university system
[00:30:59.597]for a fully promoted faculty member,
[00:31:02.616]fully promoted and tenured faculty member.
[00:31:04.914]The first two in the university system
[00:31:09.488]are in our house.
[00:31:11.369]I find that just,
[00:31:12.786]I think that's just amazing.
[00:31:14.086]Not surprising, the primary support
[00:31:16.965]comes from commodity groups.
[00:31:18.985]Steve Baenziger was the,
[00:31:20.796]is the inaugural Nebraska Wheat Growers'
[00:31:22.700]presidential chair and George Graef
[00:31:25.301]is the inaugural Nebraska Soybean Board
[00:31:27.599]presidential chair
[00:31:28.737]and both of them have this affinity for dry stuff
[00:31:31.338]in their hands, apparently, because
[00:31:33.056]that's what the picture says,
[00:31:35.610]but, this is not insignificant, right?
[00:31:39.534]This is the first two,
[00:31:41.159]and Ronnie has a vision for,
[00:31:42.599]I don't remember what the number is,
[00:31:43.644]maybe 30 presidential chairs,
[00:31:46.128]do you remember, Chuck?
[00:31:47.126]Is that right?
[00:31:48.195]25, thank you.
[00:31:49.147]And the first two were us.
[00:31:51.793]And it was,
[00:31:52.444]it was a testament to the quality of our faculty
[00:31:54.812]and it was a testament to the quality of the people
[00:31:57.970]we work with, the commodities who are so supportive
[00:32:00.895]of the work we do,
[00:32:01.801]so any members of the NSB or the Wheat Board
[00:32:05.260]that are with us today
[00:32:06.630]or view us later,
[00:32:08.070]thank you very much,
[00:32:09.324]and I would, you know,
[00:32:10.438]the other awards are really important
[00:32:12.249]and you're going to see them scroll past,
[00:32:14.246]you're going to see some repeat offenders
[00:32:15.570]that seem to get
[00:32:16.847]all the awards,
[00:32:17.985]and that's because that's how good the faculty are
[00:32:20.294]that we have here,
[00:32:21.026]but let's give both Steve and George,
[00:32:23.789]who are physically here a hand.
[00:32:25.693](applauds)
[00:32:26.413](audience applauds)
[00:32:35.259]This is the sad part to me
[00:32:36.467]because I knew some of these people
[00:32:38.301]and if I didn't know them,
[00:32:40.344]Arden Baltensperger, who got his degree here,
[00:32:43.316]knew them and up until his death two weeks ago,
[00:32:47.078]one of my mentors passed away about two weeks ago,
[00:32:49.678]he would talk about these faculty
[00:32:51.025]and what an influence they had in their lives
[00:32:54.578]and some of you may have interacted with these
[00:32:56.296]people as well.
[00:32:59.570]William Ross passed away in June of 2013
[00:33:03.238]at the age of 88.
[00:33:06.094]He had a long career at the University of Nebraska,
[00:33:11.017]primarily in sort of agronomic traits
[00:33:13.826]and production.
[00:33:16.473]Charlie Gardner is a legend.
[00:33:19.027]Quantitative genetics.
[00:33:21.465]I don't think there many in his day
[00:33:23.253]that even had a clue what Doctor Gardner was doing
[00:33:25.947]when it came to quantitative genetics.
[00:33:28.059]Doctor Green took quantitative genetics
[00:33:29.801]with Charlie Gardner.
[00:33:31.566]Amazing, amazing individual,
[00:33:33.864]passed away at the ripe age of 94.
[00:33:37.347]You know, I hope I make 80,
[00:33:38.671]and he made it to 94, so it's that clean living
[00:33:41.434]in quantitative genetics.
[00:33:43.454](audience chuckles)
[00:33:44.940]Donald Hanway,
[00:33:45.636]I have a lot of respect.
[00:33:47.540]I didn't know Don, but he was a department head
[00:33:50.141]in this department when it was just the agronomy department
[00:33:52.741]for 12 years.
[00:33:55.063]That is unheard of in today,
[00:33:56.781]by today's standards.
[00:33:57.640]You don't see people staying in those positions
[00:33:59.939]for very--
[00:34:00.427]they either move on to another position,
[00:34:01.913]go on to be a dean or something like that,
[00:34:04.281]and Doctor Hanway was a department head,
[00:34:06.719]along with a career at other institutions as well.
[00:34:10.016]But I'm in awe of somebody that can do this for 12 years.
[00:34:14.126]Dale Swartzendruber was a,
[00:34:15.774]once again, more classical agronomist.
[00:34:17.725]Passed away at the age of 89 in 2014.
[00:34:22.345]Herman Gorz was an affiliate of our department
[00:34:26.037]but integral.
[00:34:27.059]He was a USDA geneticist.
[00:34:30.101]He used to come for coffee, along with some other
[00:34:32.492]emeriti faculty,
[00:34:33.583]always I enjoyed having a conversation with him
[00:34:37.136]and he was a loss to the senior faculty
[00:34:39.667]as well as historically leaves behind a,
[00:34:42.569]he got one of the highest awards
[00:34:44.043]the United States Department of Agriculture gives
[00:34:46.132]as a geneticist for them for a lot of years,
[00:34:48.942]right here in our unit.
[00:34:50.985]All the USDA faculty that are agronomists
[00:34:52.959]or horticulturists have a,
[00:34:54.909]join appointments with us.
[00:34:56.488]Passed away in 2015.
[00:34:59.391]Don Sander.
[00:35:00.830]Some people don't know, Don grew up
[00:35:02.873]in a very diversified farm
[00:35:04.661]and never lost site of those roots in his thinking,
[00:35:07.633]when he would teach,
[00:35:09.375]and he passed away at 82 this last year.
[00:35:13.415]And this is one,
[00:35:14.065]I want to sort of dedicate today to Ruth Miller.
[00:35:15.597]She's not a faculty member,
[00:35:17.153]but Ruth was a greenhouse manager for us
[00:35:18.941]for a number of years and then when the Agriculture
[00:35:22.284]Research Division took over and umbrellas
[00:35:24.421]all of the greenhouse facilities,
[00:35:25.883]Ruth moved into a position as
[00:35:27.741]a greenhouse manager there,
[00:35:29.297]and unfortunately, they're still questioning what it was,
[00:35:33.151]there's some rumors that it was Rocky Mountain
[00:35:34.544]Spotted Fever,
[00:35:36.889]but Ruth was taken from us at the age of 54,
[00:35:39.722]and she, much like T.J. McAndrew,
[00:35:43.716]dealt with faculty and staff and graduate students
[00:35:46.200]on a day-to-day basis,
[00:35:47.825]and I'm sure there were times she wondered
[00:35:49.567]what she was doing, but,
[00:35:51.262]I just sort of like to dedicate today to Ruth because
[00:35:53.444]it was really sad to see this, you know,
[00:35:55.325]and almost shocking when we hear that somebody
[00:35:57.067]at this age,
[00:35:58.018]very vibrant, very active, and unfortunately
[00:36:00.596]was taken at too early an age,
[00:36:03.963]so, if you all wouldn't mind,
[00:36:05.936]those of you so inclined, bow your heads,
[00:36:07.399]just for a little bit, and think about these people
[00:36:10.139]and think about your loved ones that you've lost
[00:36:11.741]in recent times.
[00:36:23.768]All right.
[00:36:24.976]I've taken the time, so rather,
[00:36:27.901]there's my email, and,
[00:36:29.503]I've said this to other audiences as well.
[00:36:31.315]You're welcome to call, email, whatever,
[00:36:33.427]anytime if you've got questions,
[00:36:34.913]or more importantly, if you have concerns.
[00:36:37.398]Or if you have suggestions,
[00:36:38.489]so feel free to
[00:36:40.858]contact me at any time
[00:36:42.227]and we'll see if we can't help you out
[00:36:44.085]at some,
[00:36:45.617]some level.
[00:36:46.569]I am going to
[00:36:48.427]turn this back over to Richard for the meat of today
[00:36:51.445]where you're going to hear about some of the
[00:36:52.630]great things we're doing.
[00:36:53.837]I'll let you know that this is just,
[00:36:55.160]we're just scratching.
[00:36:55.950]It's the tip of the iceberg because we are
[00:36:58.202]an extremely large, diverse faculty
[00:37:00.269]with a great
[00:37:02.265]support system in our staff,
[00:37:04.286]and this is a joint effort,
[00:37:06.073]so, if you
[00:37:08.999]enjoy the day, the rest of the day,
[00:37:11.089]and I'm going to turn it back over to Doctor Ferguson.
[00:37:14.061]Thank you.
[00:37:15.407](audience applauds)

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Agronomy & Horticulture Department Update

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