-: Thanks, Richard.
A couple of comments before I start some,
sort of some more database-sort of things,
and the question was really,
that was a really good question.
I appreciate that coming from the crowd.
When I started here,
25 years ago actually as an extension specialist,
I remember my first couple of years here thinking,
well this will be a nice place to hang out
until something better comes along.
Well, it hasn't come yet,
and when I first started here, I used to tell people,
"You know, Nebraska's a really well-kept secret,"
and I don't think that's really as true today.
We have work to do.
As true today as it was 25 years ago.
I get the opportunity to go to department head meetings
for both horticulture and agronomy
since we're a blended department
and we've got administrators at other institutions
going, "What the heck is going on at Nebraska?
"How are you doing this?"
And it's the vision of,
it's the vision of Ronnie and the deans and others
at the institute that make that happen,
so they deserve a huge vote of confidence
as well as accolades for what they've done
because we're bigger, we're better,
and we are,
we're not just that little blip in the radar anymore,
we're recognized,
not just us as a department,
but the institute in general,
and as Ronnie mentioned,
we're on our way, but we've got work to do.
And, I think you'll see some stuff going on today
that in 10, 15, 20 years people will be talking about
as sort of legendary, cutting-edge research
and students being educated at a level that
was unseen at the institute previous to this,
so I would like to, actually before I get into the more
formal part.
We do have a fair amount of administrators
that took time out of their busy schedules to be here.
Doctor Chuck Hibbard is our Dean of Extension.
If Chuck, if you could take a wave please,
thank you.
Doctor Ron Yoder is the Associate Vice Chancellor
in the institute,
so when Ronnie's not there,
Ron has to do the work.
Seems appropriate to me,
given they both have sort of the same name,
one with more of a southern tilt to it
and then Archie Clutter, the agriculture research
division dean who's at the door,
as well as some of their staff.
Jill Brown who does a lot of great work
for the institute as well,
so, just it shows you the commitment they've made
to our department and Ronnie mentioned it.
They,
we,
we're treated really, really, really well.
It makes my job a little easier.
We're not always in agreement.
I think Ronnie mentioned that.
I'm probably in disagreement more than they know,
but we manage to get some things,
we manage to get some things done.
So I'm going to go ahead and start this.
Was it okay to say that?
We'll find out later.
(audience laughs)
So, you're going to hear some really great things
a little bit later, right?
And I don't want to belabor that,
but I do want to show you,
if we're talking about growing our future,
how are we doing that?
And you'll see some data here in a little bit
that will go into that in more detail,
but, we're going to give you some idea of how we're
structured and what we've done differently in the last,
and this is really a four year-update.
This doesn't disregard the great work that was done
prior to my
job as head,
but this is what I know and know best.
But this is our academic flow chart,
so it kind of gives you an idea.
When Doctor Green mentioned we're the largest academic
unit in the university system,
every time I hear that I'm wondering,
what the heck am I doing
in front of this group?
Because this is what it looks like.
We have a head and an associate head,
and Richard is really more of a partner to me
than a subordinate.
I don't think we deal with each other
as supervisor and subordinate,
it's a really a unique situation,
and then we have our faculty
which are housed all over the place.
We have faculty that are in buildings.
Many of you know Keim, Kiesselbach,
you know, in recent years the Beetle Center.
We have faculty in Chase,
obviously faculty in Plant Science.
We had faculty in Filly
and when they moved to NIC,
the NIC campus, then obviously,
we now have some faculty that are physically
in Nebraska Innovation Campus,
and then because that moved,
then because we were at saturation in terms of space
we gained some space in Filly hall,
so, all this moving around and positioning
is actually beneficial,
so it's not just Innovation Campus,
but when that space became available,
then we were able to pick up some really premium lab space
as well as office space.
We also have the Research and Extension centers
that are critical to what we do
and we have faculty, that their tenure home
is agronomy and horticulture.
You'll see reference to them a little bit later,
but we have the Panhandle Research and Extension Center,
the West Central Research and Extension Center
in North Platte,
and the Northeast Research and Extension Center
in the northeast,
primarily the research part is at Concord.
And you're going to hear a little bit from Charlie Shapiro
later about some of the work that he's conducting here.
We don't do this without those
locations.
We can't do what we do
and we're really, really blessed in that
we have this unbelievable range of environments
that we can grow crops in,
and so that allows us to,
when we bring a student in,
they can hear about soybean production,
they can hear about corn,
they can hear about wheat,
but they also can hear about sugar beets
and other crops that would be less familiar
if you go further east,
or even if you go further south,
so it's an opportunity that we don't have.
We've got a diversity of soils from east to west
that is very, very unique,
so, Nebraska is just perfectly positioned for agronomy
and horticulture department.
We have colleagues in the USDA
that we couldn't work without.
We also have a program that's, you know,
affiliated with the instute,
but we have faculty that teach
in the Doctor of Plant Health program
which is an outstanding program in the unit,
and then we also have the Pesticide Safety
and Environmental program which is how everyone
in the state gets certified,
run by Clyde Ogg, one of our extension
educations who physically is housed in our department
so that's sort of the complexity from the academic
end of things.
The dashed lines sort of represent that they're
affiliated but not structurally within that particular
purview.
Now the staffing,
and this is,
I want to spend a little more time on staffing
because we've done some things that I think
are relatively creative
but we've also,
we don't,
this,
we can talk all we want about the faculty,
and with due respect to all the great work we do,
but we have an infrastructure of staff
that is,
I think it's as good as any department
in the university system
because they are there to assist us
in pretty much everything we do.
We've added three positions.
Some of you may have met Wendy Morrisey
at the front desk.
She's our event planner,
or I'm not sure if there's another department
that physically has an event planner,
and that was an offer from a commodity group,
the Nebraska Turf Grass Association said,
"You know, we need some help.
"We can't run our association effectively
"and we're so closely aligned with you,
"we'll fund half of a professional-level position"
and now we charge a fee to
other programs like Crop Protection Clinic.
They are getting their events done
much more efficiently
and economically than they ever would have,
and it wouldn't have happened without somebody
being able to hire somebody as an event planner
but not only somebody in that role
but also somebody as good as Wendy,
and she was attracted,
her husband got a degree in horticulture
in our department when it was an independent
department so there was that affiliation
and that association,
knowing that this would be a good place to come
for her work, and that's been outstanding.
We have,
we had a graphic designer but now we've added two
and really, we have two skill sets in that arena
both print media as well as
scientific illustration and web design,
so that combination, if it hadn't been for
Atlanta (mumbles), Atlanta Johnson,
doing an amazing job and that allows the
faculty to do more of what they do,
so if they need a recruiting brochure
or if they need a Power Point,
you know a special Power Point,
they need pictures taken at an event,
that's what they're there for.
Now, did we give up any other position to make that
happen?
Perhaps, but these are positions that are more
for the good of the cause
rather than a single program
or a group of faculty,
so I thought that was real important
that we moved that direction
and I think most of the faculty have bought into it
in utilizing those people really, really well.
We also added a Safety Coordinator,
at least in the labs,
that are on the east campus.
We didn't have a Safety Coordinator before
and I wouldn't say that we got written up
any more than any other university,
but we've established a relationship
with the Safety,
Environmental Health and Safety at the university
that's going to result in really positive things.
Plus, with all the new hires,
this individual's helping with the startup package
and the purchase and the negotiation
for the analytical equipment,
so that adds a really nice other level as well.
Then underneath that, we have all these buildings
we operate out of.
The ones that are in a little bit of a lighter color,
we don't have any authority,
for lack of a better term,
in the Beetle Center,
but we do have faculty housed there
and we do help them anyway we can.
The Greenhouse and Growth Chamber Facilities,
we used to have them in our unit
but then Agriculture Research Division
umbrellas them now,
but we have a lot of area that we utilize
in that arena as well, so,
you look at that and it doesn't happen without the
staffing, and it's something higher than that.
I didn't update this slide,
but it's about 85 staff just on campus.
That's exclusive of the Research and Extension Centers
who also have great staff that make it happen for them,
and then finally, I want to mention one last staff member
and that's our facilities coordinator.
T.J. McAndrew is responsible for all our buildings
on east campus as well as
all of our farms,
the Havelock Farm,
the Farm at the ARDC,
and the farm on campus,
and I think he's sort of like a Mini Me
in that he deals with the Disneyland of faculty that we have
and I mean that in a positive way, mostly,
but there are a lot of demands on a daily basis
and there's no reason for a faculty member
not to think that their work is important
and so, T.J. runs interference on a lot of the concerns
and complaints about facilities,
and I couldn't do what I do without T.J.,
and I think most of you in the room that have had the
opportunity to work with T.J.
when he's not in a bad mood,
are pretty happy with the kind of work
that he does.
This is the,
this is the,
if you, you know, if you consider about the passion
and the brilliance of our scientists
and our extension people and our teaching faculty,
it doesn't function without these people,
so, just keep that in mind.
The people you work with are important
and it doesn't matter what level or hierarchy they are.
I prefer not to think of it as a hierarchy.
So what have we done in the last four years
in terms of retirements, new hires?
We do lose faculty on occasion for various reasons
and then we're going to talk about the numbers,
what that looks like.
We'll look at promotion and tenures,
awards and recognition,
and you know, we can always look forward
but we must look back at the people that
got us to this point in our time
and we'll have a little short section at the end
about in remembrance of those people that brought
us here.
So, who have we had retire in the last,
last four years?
In 2012 and 2013,
Bob Klein at the West Central Research and Extension
Center in North Platte.
52 years.
That's just phenomenal to me,
and you know, he's still hanging out.
I mean, he's still there, helping the new faculty
and helping the system run.
Just world renowned for his
work in sprayer technologies.
He's passed on that expertise to Greg Kruger
who has then expanded it even further
and that foundational piece was critical.
I'm sure Greg would agree,
couldn't have done it without Bob's foundation.
John Yohe was with the INSTORMIL,
which, you know, INSTORMIL went aside
and he'd been with sort of an affiliate role with,
for 28 years.
Roy Spalding was jointly in the School
of Natural Resources as well as our unit,
and Roy brought expertise in in water science.
In 2014, one of our legends is Jim Specht,
our soybean physiologist and breeder
and he gave us 40 years of his life and continues
to show up and
interact with the new faculty and the program.
We have one of the preeminent soybean programs
in the world, in my humble opinion
and it wouldn't have happened without this foundational
work that Doctor Specht did.
Bob Wilson out of the Panhandle Research
and Extension Center, still to this day,
is asked to interact with the people working with
weed management and very complex cropping systems
so we were sorry to see Bob go,
but we do have replacements for many of these people.
Tom Elthon was really intimately involved with the students,
used to be in the School of Biological Sciences
and then essentially moved into our department
to teach fundamental courses
that were not being taught in
the School of Biological Sciences
at the level we felt our students needed,
so we brought Tom in
and he taught plant anatomy and botany for us
and did a great job and retired
and bought a van and is traveling around the country
and some of you may have never had any interaction
with Tom.
When you do, he was a very unique individual
and an amazing committee member
in faculty committees for graduate students
so, these are people that we've lost
due to retirement.
Gary Hergert, 40 years as a soil fertility specialist
in, at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center.
Did some really solid work
in terms of nutrient management
in somewhat lighter soils than we're used to
in the eastern part of the state.
Tom Hoegemeyer,
he wasn't here very long,
but Tom was a unique hire in that we called it
a breeder in residence and we have a really strong
distance program and we needed some expertise
and why not utilize somebody that comes from industry?
And Tom really hasn't retired because he now serves
as a chair of our agronomy and horticulture alumni
advisory council.
Laurie Hodges was our
Extension Vegetable Specialist for 26 years.
So, those are the people that we lost,
for lack of a better term.
Many of them are still actively involved,
still serve on committees,
still have students they are finishing up,
still helping the new hires along.
And that's just sort of the, you know,
you can call it a community or you can call it a family,
whatever you're comfortable with,
but that's that whole,
the mentality among the people that work in our department,
at least in my opinion.
Obviously, families fight on occasion as well.
New hires.
These are just 2012 and 2013,
Humberto Blanco is a soil management specialist.
Little brief story about Humberto.
He shows up,
two weeks later he's teaching 75 students
in the soil management course.
I'm not sure he really knew what hit him
and then he managed to find a way to teach 75 students
extremely creatively.
Patricio Grassini is,
you'll see his name when we talk about awards.
Cropping system specialist,
agronomist, he's primarily,
it was a DWFI, Daughtery Water for Food hire,
and works in crop modeling.
Amit Jhala is assistant professor in weed management.
He's managed to establish a program relatively quickly.
We picked up the popcorn program
from ConAgra.
They essentially said, "We're not doing a very good job
"of it, can you take this over for us?"
And you'll hear from Oscar a little bit later.
Oscar Rodriguez is our popcorn breeder.
Haishun Yang is an associate professor
in crop modeling.
He was a,
was working at Monsanto
and we were able to hire him away
to work on some of our modeling efforts.
Dirac Twidwell,
I think we should call him the Flame,
because he,
this,
Doctor Twidwell is into fire
in a big way.
I would never have wanted to be his parents,
but...
(audience laughs)
But that said, he's a range land ecologist
that's bringing it for the students in that program
and brought in another level of expertise
to the already well-established program
that (mumbles) without a formal title essentially leads.
Roger Elmore was,
we brought in,
Roger left us,
went to Iowa State as the corn agronomist
and then we were able to recruit him back
as one of the Daugherty Water for Food hires
as a systems agronomist,
and many of you have seen him out and about,
especially those of you who operate in the corn and bean
realm in the eastern part of the state.
We, that was,
that was a very strategic hire at least in my opinion.
Daren Redfearn, associate professor in forage and
crop residue specialist.
This idea that we should be looking at the crop residues
as a forage type,
and I'm oversimplifying the great work
that Daren does,
and if you get a chance to talk to Daren,
it's just the little bit of drawl in his voice
is just entertaining,
so, we all bring something to the table.
Daren brings expertise as well as a really cool accent.
Bill Kreuser is the assistant professor
and extension turf grass specialist.
He came to use from work in Wisconsin
and Cornell,
and a good hire in a discipline that's very, very
near and dear to my heart,
so I was keeping a little closer eye on the turf hire.
Daniel Schachtman, who you're going to hear about
from a little bit later
was a,
also pulled away from industry, from Monsanto.
He's a professor in plant molecular physiologist
and he was just here a short time
before the
administration keyed on his capacity as an administrator
so he's also the Director of the Center for Biotechnology.
I don't have a slide of this, but you also need to know that
Daniel, as well as others in this room,
including Tom Clemente and Ismail Dweikat
got one of the largest single grants
from DOE, correct?
Is that the right funding agency?
Close to $14 million.
And, you know,
I didn't get to shake Harvey's hand, but Daniel did,
so, I think that, you know,
if it costs 14 million to shake Harvey's hand then
so be it, but,
that's the kind of people we're hiring.
Just putting it in perspective.
Brian Krienke is an extension,
assistant extension educator
in soil fertility.
You'll hear from Brian a little bit later.
He works on a program with some county-based
extension educators that is really solid
and really
being adopted by
the stakeholders out there.
Computational biology.
Now, 25 years ago, when I was in grad school
at, oh wait, Michigan State University,
GBR, no go green, no go white, all right?
Paul, are you in agreement?
We're both Michigan State grads.
But, the,
I didn't know what a computational biologist was.
I didn't know what, you know, the microbiome was,
and that's the sort of stuff we talk about now,
and you're going to hear about that today.
But James comes to us with a,
from the Danford Center with a great expertise
in computational biology
because now we're talking about huge data sets
and Keenan Anderson will give a short presentation
on bioinformatics and large data management
because it's very different than what we all grew up
doing, for those of us that are a little bit on in years.
2015 hires.
Sophie Alvarez is a research associate professor
and she's
dealing with these pieces of analytical equipment
that, once again,
weren't even available at the level they are today
and she's a critical cog.
She works in the Center for Biotechnology.
Cody Creech is an assistant professor
and dryland cropping systems specialist
in western Nebraska at the Panhandle Research
and Extension Center.
Essentially, those of you that remember Drew Lyon,
it's a replacement,
I know that's not how we're supposed to use it
for that particular position,
and Cody was actually trained under Greg Kruger
at the, at the,
West Central, so, we've,
he already has that expertise,
he's from that part of the world,
a really nice additionn.
David Hyten, an associate professor who we were
able to recruit away from Pioneer,
soybean genetics and genomics
and he brings some skill sets that,
in sequencing that we're going to be able to enhance
with his arrival.
Nevin Lawrence.
Nevin doesn't start 'til 2016
and so I had to go to the web for a picture.
That's not the official
approved picture for faculty in our unit,
and I will,
when Nevin gets here, I'm going to have to say,
ask him why he shot the smallest pronghorn antelope
in Wyoming, but,
that's just me.
(audience laughs)
But he's an assistant professor and integrated
weed management specialist at the
Panhandle Research and Extension Center.
Chris Proctor is an extension educator,
but we have extension educators that are not
county-based, but they're department-based,
and these are nice additions.
He's working in weed management.
We'll talk about who left that position here in a minute.
Vikas Shedge is a research assistant professor
in molecular biology.
Wait, we're not done yet.
This is crazy.
Brandi Sigmon is a research assistant professor
in comparitive genomics,
working in the Mower Lab in the Beetle Center.
She brings some really outstanding skill
in stuff I have trouble pronouncing
let alone understanding, but,
that's a need that we have
with this new, exciting
era that we're in.
Meghan Sindelar is an assistant professor of practice.
I haven't mentioned these,
what we call P.O.P.'s.
These are usually MS or PhD-level faculty,
non-tenure track
and predominantly teaching
because we have such a,
we've had a huge increase in undergraduates,
as well as graduate students, but mostly
in undergraduates and we're filling the,
there were some gaps that needed to be filled
and so we hired Meghan to come in and teach
not just in plant science but also in soil science,
and she's working out really, really well.
Mitch Stephenson is an assistant professor
at the once again,
the Panhandle Research and Extension Center
and a range and forage management specialist,
and, you know, we've done all these interviews
so last count,
I've had the opportunity as has Richard and commitee
members, to, you know, talk about 150 different people
and they, you know,
all of them had been vetted by a search committee
and it's interesting to see some of the things they've done.
You know, Mitchell radio calls our cows
and then tracks their grazing habits
to more effectively utilize pastures,
so I thought that was pretty intriguing to me.
Zhen Wang is a research assistant professor in genomics
and phenomics research.
So that brings us to
the ones that we've hired.
We've still got some open positions.
We just finished a
interview for an environmental horticulturist
and we have yet to extend an offer.
That should happen in the not-too-distant future.
The Gary Hergert position at the Panhandle,
soil and nutrient management position
has been approved by upper administration
and it's now being advertised
as is also true of the integrated turf grass management
specialist that'll be campus based
and then a cropping systems specialist
that we've interviewed for and we're in the process of
trying to close the deal on an outstanding candidate.
So what are the numbers?
Oh, here's a faculty moving on, sorry.
2012 and 2013, nobody left.
That was a good thing.
In 2014, Lowell Sandell who was an extension educator
in weed science, got a great opportunity from
Valent Chemical and he left us,
but he is still actively involved in providing funding now
to our weed scientists on campus.
Steve Rodie left the University of Nebraska, Lincoln,
but the joined the faculty at the University of Nebraska,
Omaha, as a director of their sustainability program.
Deana Namuth-Covert took a position
in distance ed with Ohio State University.
In 2015, Zac Reicher went to work for Bayer CropScience.
Aaron Lorenz unfortunately took an academic position
at Minnesota.
He was one of our up and comers,
and, but now that he's working in soybeans,
we're probably still going to see quite a bit of Aaron.
Gilles Basset and Anna Block are husband and wife
and Gilles was in the biochemistry department,
Anna was in our department
and Anna was made a really good offer in Florida
and
Gilles wanted to make sure Anna had the opportunity
to expand her horizons a little bit,
so, unfortunately, we lost both of them.
So what are the numbers, last four years?
Not going to get bogged down in the math, but,
we're looking at a net gain if we include the four
positions that we're currently,
currently seeking or advertising for,
or getting ready to advert for.
It looks like we've gained about 10 faculty.
That's exclusive, in the last couple of years
that Mark Lagrimini was department head,
we picked up about four more,
so our net gain in faculty is about 14
in an already really large department,
which has just increased the capacity
of what we can do as a unit.
It's been pretty exciting,
so that includes faculty at the centers
as well as extension educators which are non-tenure
leaning faculty as well,
research assistant professors and,
and the professors of practice, so,
it's a pretty good gain.
So if we're growing our future,
it's going to happen with these people
and the staff they hire
because usually everyone comes in and immediately
hires a post-doc or a grad student,
usually a technician,
and often these students,
excuse me, often these people become students
and then get advanced degrees with us as well,
so it's all a synergy that works really, really well.
Promotions and tenures.
Okay, so those of you that don't understand
promotion and tenure,
obviously you understand promotion
but tenure is after six years,
a faculty member goes up and gets what we call
a continuous appointment,
so they're on an annual basis prior to that,
these are tenure-leaning faculty
and then we also promote our extension educators as well
as our professors of practice.
In 2012 and 2013,
we had three professors of practice
go from the assistant to associate level,
Stacy Adams, who you'll hear from a little bit later,
Dave Lambe and Anne Streich,
who you'll also hear from a little bit later.
And then Gilles was
given tenure in 2013.
Unfortunately, we lost him.
Promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2014,
Jeff Mower, functional genomics and at the Beetle Center
and Dipak Santra, an alternative crop breeder
at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center,
and then was promoted to full extension educator,
so there's three levels just like there is for tenure-line.
Clyde Ogg who has run our
pesticide certification and recertification program
in collaboration with the state of Nebraska for a long time
and has a done a really stellar job of it
and also on the side has done this work with
K through 12, so, it's a really nice addition
in recognition of his work.
2015 was a big year for us.
These are people that would have been hired under
Doctor Lagrimini's watch
except for Humberto because
Humberto came here from K State
with a fair amount of experience
so he got promoted a little bit earlier than normal,
but Humberto, John Guretzky in teaching
research physician in range and,
range science.
David Holding, who is,
works in
plant breeding and genetics
at the Beetle Center.
Tim Shaver is a soil specialist
at West Central Research and Extension Center.
Brian Waters works in molecular nutrition and genetics
and Harkamal Walia who you'll hear from,
a little bit of extended time here,
a molecular physiologist.
And then, promoted to associate professor of practice,
Leah Sandall, who you'll also hear
a little bit later.
She's our distance ed director and a really nice addition
to a very aggressive program in distance education.
This is where we brag.
And when I saw we, I say collectively,
and the snaps that Ronnie gave me earlier,
that's not me.
It's the department.
In most instances, on any given day,
I probably wonder why I'm doing it,
but for the majority of the time,
it's an amazing,
it's like Mister Toad's wild ride in Disneyland, right?
Because you never know what's going to be around
the corner and you could start your day thinking
you have this plan of action,
it never works.
Forget that that's ever going to happen,
but it's always exciting and sometimes frustrating,
and this happens because of the people we have.
This is our grants in 2013, 2014.
This is what impresses me the most
is that the department of agronomy and horticulture
is approximately at 10% of UNL's total
in research and about 10 1/2% for competitively
funded research grants.
Understanding we're the biggest department,
academic unit there is.
I fully understand that, but for us to represent 10%
of the total, pretty significant,
so if you factor in all types of funding categories,
we're at 6% of total and almost 7%
of competitively funded dollars in the university system.
This happens because of the faculty
you're going to get an opportunity to interact with.
This happens because of the Daniel Schachtman
and the Tom Clemente's and the Ismail Dweikats who
nail these 14,
I keep on making it bigger, don't I, Daniel?
It just keeps on getting bigger.
Before we're done it's going to be 60 million
or we only hope,
but nearly $14 million.
It's those kind of grants, so,
in '14,
'13 and '14, our total with not only research grants
but also instruction and extension outreach
as well as student aid, about,
a little over $12 1/2 million,
and that happens because of the faculty
you're going to hear talking today,
and that's,
that's sort of our,
we can't work without funding
and funding becomes,
as funding becomes more and more competitive,
I find that our faculty
hit or score
across a lot of different funding agencies
better than when I talk to my colleagues
at head of other departments.
So, that's a major,
that's a major kudo for us.
Awards and recognitions.
Okay, I'm only going to talk about two here,
but over lunch, you're going to see a scroll
of all the awards that have happened in the last four years
but I do want to single out two,
and Ronnie briefly mentioned this.
There was the creation of these presidential chairs,
so this would be the highest level
of professorship in the university system
for a fully promoted faculty member,
fully promoted and tenured faculty member.
The first two in the university system
are in our house.
I find that just,
I think that's just amazing.
Not surprising, the primary support
comes from commodity groups.
Steve Baenziger was the,
is the inaugural Nebraska Wheat Growers'
presidential chair and George Graef
is the inaugural Nebraska Soybean Board
presidential chair
and both of them have this affinity for dry stuff
in their hands, apparently, because
that's what the picture says,
but, this is not insignificant, right?
This is the first two,
and Ronnie has a vision for,
I don't remember what the number is,
maybe 30 presidential chairs,
do you remember, Chuck?
Is that right?
25, thank you.
And the first two were us.
And it was,
it was a testament to the quality of our faculty
and it was a testament to the quality of the people
we work with, the commodities who are so supportive
of the work we do,
so any members of the NSB or the Wheat Board
that are with us today
or view us later,
thank you very much,
and I would, you know,
the other awards are really important
and you're going to see them scroll past,
you're going to see some repeat offenders
that seem to get
all the awards,
and that's because that's how good the faculty are
that we have here,
but let's give both Steve and George,
who are physically here a hand.
(applauds)
(audience applauds)
This is the sad part to me
because I knew some of these people
and if I didn't know them,
Arden Baltensperger, who got his degree here,
knew them and up until his death two weeks ago,
one of my mentors passed away about two weeks ago,
he would talk about these faculty
and what an influence they had in their lives
and some of you may have interacted with these
people as well.
William Ross passed away in June of 2013
at the age of 88.
He had a long career at the University of Nebraska,
primarily in sort of agronomic traits
and production.
Charlie Gardner is a legend.
Quantitative genetics.
I don't think there many in his day
that even had a clue what Doctor Gardner was doing
when it came to quantitative genetics.
Doctor Green took quantitative genetics
with Charlie Gardner.
Amazing, amazing individual,
passed away at the ripe age of 94.
You know, I hope I make 80,
and he made it to 94, so it's that clean living
in quantitative genetics.
(audience chuckles)
Donald Hanway,
I have a lot of respect.
I didn't know Don, but he was a department head
in this department when it was just the agronomy department
for 12 years.
That is unheard of in today,
by today's standards.
You don't see people staying in those positions
for very--
they either move on to another position,
go on to be a dean or something like that,
and Doctor Hanway was a department head,
along with a career at other institutions as well.
But I'm in awe of somebody that can do this for 12 years.
Dale Swartzendruber was a,
once again, more classical agronomist.
Passed away at the age of 89 in 2014.
Herman Gorz was an affiliate of our department
but integral.
He was a USDA geneticist.
He used to come for coffee, along with some other
emeriti faculty,
always I enjoyed having a conversation with him
and he was a loss to the senior faculty
as well as historically leaves behind a,
he got one of the highest awards
the United States Department of Agriculture gives
as a geneticist for them for a lot of years,
right here in our unit.
All the USDA faculty that are agronomists
or horticulturists have a,
join appointments with us.
Passed away in 2015.
Don Sander.
Some people don't know, Don grew up
in a very diversified farm
and never lost site of those roots in his thinking,
when he would teach,
and he passed away at 82 this last year.
And this is one,
I want to sort of dedicate today to Ruth Miller.
She's not a faculty member,
but Ruth was a greenhouse manager for us
for a number of years and then when the Agriculture
Research Division took over and umbrellas
all of the greenhouse facilities,
Ruth moved into a position as
a greenhouse manager there,
and unfortunately, they're still questioning what it was,
there's some rumors that it was Rocky Mountain
Spotted Fever,
but Ruth was taken from us at the age of 54,
and she, much like T.J. McAndrew,
dealt with faculty and staff and graduate students
on a day-to-day basis,
and I'm sure there were times she wondered
what she was doing, but,
I just sort of like to dedicate today to Ruth because
it was really sad to see this, you know,
and almost shocking when we hear that somebody
at this age,
very vibrant, very active, and unfortunately
was taken at too early an age,
so, if you all wouldn't mind,
those of you so inclined, bow your heads,
just for a little bit, and think about these people
and think about your loved ones that you've lost
in recent times.
All right.
I've taken the time, so rather,
there's my email, and,
I've said this to other audiences as well.
You're welcome to call, email, whatever,
anytime if you've got questions,
or more importantly, if you have concerns.
Or if you have suggestions,
so feel free to
contact me at any time
and we'll see if we can't help you out
at some,
some level.
I am going to
turn this back over to Richard for the meat of today
where you're going to hear about some of the
great things we're doing.
I'll let you know that this is just,
we're just scratching.
It's the tip of the iceberg because we are
an extremely large, diverse faculty
with a great
support system in our staff,
and this is a joint effort,
so, if you
enjoy the day, the rest of the day,
and I'm going to turn it back over to Doctor Ferguson.
Thank you.
(audience applauds)