Earlier this year I asked Mark Balschweid and Larry Van Tassell to co-chair a task force of faculty and staff with the objective of evaluating the current C.Y. Thompson Library facility.  This was the result of conversation initiated in July 2012 by former Dean of Libraries Joan Giesecke followed by a subsequent discussion with current Dean Nancy Busch in fall of 2012.  These conversations had centered around future potential for re-thinking the use of the facility for more effective student and community interactive learning given that over the past several decades utilization of the facility in its current form and presentation has continued to decline.  I was very intrigued by the initial discussions and saw this as ripe with potential opportunity for our students and academic community.

The task force was appointed in early January and quickly went to work.  They held several open focus group discussions on campus with multiple user groups and have studied similar discussions and their outcomes on contemporary university campuses around the country.  Earlier this month, the task force submitted their report to me for consideration with the recommendation that the facility be re-developed to become a “student learning center commons” that would retain a library role while broadening the remit to include a student interactive learning center concept.  Their proposal also includes the recommendation that an addition be designed for the east face of the building to provide an amphitheater connecting to the arboretum area of the campus.  This plan would also merge with the recent Campus Master Plan proposal that calls for a student commons green space better connecting the plaza between the Nebraska East Union, C.Y. Thompson, and Filley Hall.

You may find a copy of the full task force report at: Bulls Buckles and Books Rethinking CY Thompson Final Report

I am very appreciative of the diligent, efficient, and highly productive work of the task force.  We are now in the process of engaging a design firm to provide to us the scope of the project, with the expectation that their report would be available to us in the latter part of this summer.  This next step will allow us to better envision a renovated facility for discussion and feedback with the greater campus community in the fall semester, with the expectation of  leading to a private fund raising effort to support the project in the coming year.

I am excited about this opportunity and hope that you will further engage with us as we explore it in the coming months.

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One of the most difficult things that one gets to do in my job is to realize that the talented and committed servants on our team are not “ours” forever, no matter how much we want them to be.  This year is especially poignant in that regard as after 36 years of remarkable contribution to UNL and IANR, Assistant Vice Chancellor Alan Moeller will be retiring effective June 30, 2013.  Alan is truly unique as he has led business, finance, and legislative affairs for essentially the entire history of today’s UNL Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and will be leaving behind an unparalleled legacy of accomplishments.  As I jokingly say often – he has trained five Vice Chancellors – which in and of itself is no small task!

As is Alan’s humble style, he has requested that we not make a big “to-do” of his retirement, but, we cannot miss the opportunity to celebrate the huge impact he has had on the University of Nebraska, the state, and its agriculture and natural resources systems during the past several decades.  So, I hope that you will plan to join us for an appreciation celebration with Alan, Lana and their family from 2-4 pm on Friday, June 14^th in the Great Plains Room of the Nebraska East Union.

Mark your calendars and we will see you there for a time of fun, laughter, and fellowship as we wish Alan and Lana well on their future journey.

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On April 3-5, we were fortunate to host more than 3,200 Nebraska FFA’ers for the 85^th annual state FFA convention.  FFA’ers sharpened their skills with career development events and leadership activities throughout east campus. New this year was a big tent where IANR hosted Wildlife Encounters, a Husker tailgate, FFA talent show, pep rally and the first state FFA AgriScience Fair. The 57-project fair helped build awareness of science through research of current agricultural issues, such as biofuels.

It was an honor having all seven Nebraska State FFA Officers in CASNR this past year, and it looks like all seven of the newly elected officers will also be in CASNR!

Thank you to everyone who helped make last week a success.  To see a video from last Friday’s festivities, please go to http://youtu.be/BfR1nlSJ_ew

Our future sure is bright when you consider the tremendous success of our 4-H program and add in partnerships like the one we have with FFA.

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The last Heuermann Lecture of the 2012-2013 season is scheduled at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 9, when World Food Prize Laureate Per Pinstrup-Andersen discusses “The Global Food System and Related Policy Challenges” in the Hardin Hall auditorium.

A 3 p.m. reception precedes the lecture.  Heuermann Lectures will resume in the fall.

Pinstrup-Andersen says the global food system and related government policies are in disarray.  He’ll discuss the factors that have created a sense of uncertainty and heightened political risks among many governments, long-term policy challenges, and policies to achieve sustainable food security for all.

Pinstrup-Andersen received the World Food Prize in 2001 for his contribution to agricultural research, food policy, and uplifting the status of the world’s poor and starving people.  He is the H.E. Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy, the J. Thomas Clark Professor of Entrepreneurship, and a professor of applied economics at Cornell University, as well as an adjunct professor of food economics at the University of Copenhagen.  He served 10 years as the International Food Policy Research Institute’s director general in Washington, D.C., and seven years as a department head.  He also served seven years as an economist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia, and six years as a distinguished professor at Wageningen University.

Heuermann Lectures, made possible by a gift from B. Keith and Norma Heuermann of Phillips, provide the entire IANR community a wonderful opportunity to come together around one of the biggest challenges of our day – how will we feed the world.  Please encourage your students to take advantage of this opportunity to hear this World Food Prize Laureate, as well.  I hope to see you there.

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Good news!  We are happy to announce that our first wave of priority positions are posted and we are now seeking applications.  As you are aware, we are hiring 36 faculty positions in the areas of Science Literacy, Stress Biology, Computational Sciences, Healthy Humans, and Healthy Systems for Agricultural Production and Natural Resources.  We also have additional faculty positions that are being filled to strengthen core areas of several departments.

To learn more about our latest investment to grow a healthy future, please go to: http://ianrhome.unl.edu/growingianr.   Please share this link with your peers and potential candidates.

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I hope you caught the Ram truck spot, “So God Made a Farmer” during last night’s Super Bowl. The commercial, that undoubtedly left many with a tear in their eye, featured beautiful agricultural images that I’m certain many of us can recall from memory.  The narrative was delivered by the late radio broadcaster Paul Harvey, who first delivered the “So God Made a Farmer” speech at the national FFA convention in 1978 with a 17 year-old state FFA officer from Virginia in attendance.   That young man was yours truly.

In addition to creating great awareness and support for agriculture, the other exciting feature of the advertisement is the money they are raising for the National FFA  Organization.   For every view, download or share of the two-minute “So God Made a Farmer” spot, Ram will make a donation to the National FFA Organization with the intent of generating $1 million to support FFA and assist in local hunger and educational  programs.

The broadcast spot can be viewed at the Ram Truck brand’s website at www.ramtrucks.com/keepplowing and on the brand’s YouTube site at www.youtube.com/ramtrucks.

Case IH is also teaming up with sister company, Ram Trucks, in a campaign that declares 2013 “The Year of the Farmer” and helps generate donations to FFA.

In IANR, we work every day to grow a healthy future through Nebraska’s and America’s farmers and ranchers.  I’m thrilled to see Ram Trucks and Case IH recognizing our hardworking constituents in this manner.  It is long overdue – and something we should see in our culture on a more regular basis.  Kudos to Dodge, Case IH and National FFA.

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“So God Made a Farmer”

And on the eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, “I need a caretaker.” So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the field, milk cows again, eat supper, then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the township board.” So God made a farmer.

“I need somebody with arms strong enough to wrestle a calf and yet gentle enough to cradle his own grandchild. Somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, have to wait for lunch until his wife’s done feeding visiting ladies, then tell the ladies to be sure to come back real soon and mean it.” So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt and watch it die, then dry his eyes and say, ‘Maybe next year,’ I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from an ash tree, shoe a horse, who can fix a harness with hay wire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. Who, during planting time and harvest season will finish his 40-hour week by Tuesday noon and then, paining from tractor back, up in another 72 hours.” So God made a farmer.

God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds and yet stop in mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor’s place. So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bales, yet gentle enough to help a newborn calf begin to suckle and tend the pink-comb pullets, who will stop his mower in an instant to avoid the nest of meadowlarks.”

It had to be somebody who’d plow deep and straight and not cut corners. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed, brake, disk, plow, plant, strain the milk, replenish the self-feeder and finish a hard week’s work with an eight mile drive to church. Somebody who’d bale a family together with the soft, strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh, and then sigh and then reply with smiling eyes when his family says that they are proud of what Dad does. “So God made a farmer.”

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You have likely heard me state on numerous occasions how fortunate we are at the University of Nebraska, and specifically the UNL Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, to have a great working relationship with the Nebraska Unicameral and Governor Heineman’s leadership team.   While many states have experienced steep cuts to their academic institutions, we are thankful to have received a flat level of funding for the past five years from the state.  Avoiding a roller coaster funding model, of steep highs and drastic cuts, allows us the ability to provide affordable access to high quality education.  While the flat funding has been understandable given the nature of the national and global economic conditions in recent years, it is not viable long term if we want to achieve our bold goals related to student enrollment growth, hiring of new faculty, retention/graduation rates, advancements in our research enterprise, and continued translation of research to practice through extension. We cannot be both affordable and competitive without support from the state.

This is why we are so excited about an initiative being discussed this year that would enhance critical state investment in the University while also addressing the concerns of tuition-paying Nebraska students and their families. Together with Governor Heineman, we are proposing an “affordability compact” that would represent a renewed commitment to state investment in public higher education. Under the compact, state support to the university would increase by an average of 4.2 percent per year of the biennium. In exchange, NU and the state colleges will freeze tuition for all Nebraska students for the next two years.  This includes undergraduate, graduate or professional; on-campus or online – saving the average Nebraska undergraduate about $1,000 over two years.  A thousand dollars is a meaningful cost savings to our students, plus it allows individuals to actually know what their expenses will be and financially plan for the next two years of their academic career in a more stable fashion.

The proposed affordability compact comes at a time when we at the University have stretched our resources considerably. In order to meet our financial obligations and keep tuition increases moderate and predictable, we have implemented $75 million in budget reallocations over the past decade. In addition, state appropriations per full time student declined more than 20 percent over the past decade, and the number of employees funded by tax and tuition dollars declined by about 200 – even as enrollment has grown from 45,000 to 50,000 and our research enterprise has grown from $100 million to $300 million across the University of Nebraska system.

As you have heard me say recently, IANR is at the lead for NU in meeting these ambitious goals with 8-years of continued student enrollment growth (breaking our all-time NU record the past two years with almost 3,630 students including NCTA), with the highest 6-year graduation rate of any college at UNL at 78%, and with a 20% increase in our research expenditures, to a total of $92M in the past year alone.  Combined with being at the center of the exciting phase I development of Nebraska Innovation Campus, and our recently announced plans to hire 36 new  tenure-track faculty (an increase of almost 10%) in areas of key priority for the state of Nebraska in the coming year, I am exceedingly proud of how we are having huge success in growing a healthy future in food, fuel, water, landscapes, and people – all the while more efficiently serving more people with the resources we are blessed to have through state, federal, and external sources.

If approved, the affordability compact will send a message to all potential students about Nebraska’s commitment to public higher education.   Soon two-thirds of all jobs in Nebraska will require postsecondary education. For our state to remain competitive, we have to produce more college graduates who can meet the needs of our state’s 21^st-century innovation economy.  Now is the time to invest in our state’s future leaders and get involved in the discussion.   I am convinced a creative approach to better serving the needs of Nebraska in these times requires tough choices – I hope you think so as well. We hope the Unicameral will support our approach. We will keep you updated on the status of our proposal, and in the meantime, I would love to hear from you on your thoughts about the affordability compact and how it would impact you and your family.

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The Why and How of CHINA . . .  

I am writing to you while flying back to Nebraska from an extraordinary week of progress in our growing relationships with a number of organizations in China.  This was my third trip to China in the past 18 months and I was very pleased to welcome Mark Doyle, our exciting new IANR Director of Global Engagement, and Rolando Flores, head of our Food Science and Technology Department along in our delegation.  This was Mark’s introduction to our Chinese efforts, which he will be leading now, and was the fourth trip for Dr. Flores building upon major work in food science and safety — particularly involving dry beans jointly with the Nebraska Department of Agriculture.  I deeply appreciate their efforts along with previous work from Ron Yoder, Archie Clutter, and Larry Berger; as well as significant efforts from President Milliken, Chancellor Perlman, NU Vice Provost for Global Engagement Tom Farrell, and Nebraska Director of Agriculture Greg Ibach over the past couple of years. The collective efforts have placed us into a real leadership position in agriculture and natural resources collaborations in China moving forward.

I have been asked by a variety of our internal and external stakeholders why we are emphasizing China, Brazil, and India in our global engagement for IANR.  While we are not doing so exclusively, as we certainly have significant international programs in a number of other areas around the world, we have made the strategic decision to rapidly grow our efforts in these three key countries.  When one considers the challenges ahead over the next four decades with global food and natural resource security, these three countries are at the center of addressing these issues.  China and India currently represent 36.2% of the global population of seven billion people – and together with the USA and Brazil make up four of the top five countries in the world in population, totaling some 43.5% of the world’s people.  We also represent three of the world’s largest agricultural economies and four of the world’s largest arable land masses.  Lastly, some of the greatest challenges to natural resource security exist in India and in China, particularly around water, areas where working together we can help significantly to move toward an ever more sustainable food production system which the future absolutely demands.

This week we moved forward our relationships in China in a number of venues in significant ways.

We were very pleased to begin planning of a forum of six leading Chinese universities in the area of grain quality and safety with the State Administration of Grain (SAG), where we have a joint office in Beijing with the Nebraska Department of Agriculture.  We are planning the forum to be held in mid-May where a delegation of key faculty in several areas will be dialoguing how we can work in these areas to mutually benefit Nebraska and China.

We also implemented a memoranda of agreement with the Academy of the State Administration for Grain (the research arm of the SAG) to lead to future joint research; with the China Agricultural University (CAU) in Beijing to facilitate research and student collaborations in the area of food science and food engineering; and with the Institute for Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR) to collaborate with the University of Nebraska’s Daugherty Water for Food Institute on irrigation development in northeastern China.

We also furthered our major relationship with Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University (NWAFU) in Yangling, Shaanxi province.  NWAFU is one of China’s top tier universities and is widely considered, along with CAU, to be the leading agriculture and natural resources university in China.  Located in central China near the city of Xi’an, NWAFU is a perfect match for us at UNL in terms of agricultural importance to China, and in the areas of strength and emphasis that we share programmatically.  Their strengths in plant and animal biotechnology, water resources management and irrigation technology, food science and engineering, and agricultural economics and business mirror us exceptionally well.  In February 2012, Chancellor Perlman signed a memorandum of agreement with NWAFU to establish a 2+2 program and a research undergraduate experience program with UNL.  We received the first class of REU students in Lincoln last summer, and was a huge success for us with 25 students studying across these areas.  While in Yangling this past week, we met with many of these students and were pleased to learn a number of them have applied for graduate work at UNL for the coming year.  We also were pleased to learn that over 100 students applied for 35 slots in the 2013 class to come to UNL this coming July.  The NWAFU students are truly exceptional.

In our meetings with President Sun and his faculty and administrative colleagues at NWAFU this week, we further built on this wonderful start and committed to each other  we intend to grow our relationship where the University of Nebraska is NWAFU’s key comprehensive strategic partner in teaching, research, and extension.  We will be planning in coming weeks for an extended delegation of our faculty to travel to Yangling in May 2013 to workshop with them on building this relationship. We will be asking a number of you to work with us in this workshop – and certainly would invite any who are so interested to let Mark Doyle know. When you have the opportunity, I would encourage you to go to http://en.nwsuaf.edu.cn/ to learn more about this amazing university – a place where I hope many of you will want to engage, not the least of which I hope is a significant number of our undergraduate students who will go to study at NWAFU.

I will be traveling to India in mid-February and will update you on our significant efforts in water and food science there after that trip – and Mark Doyle and Liana Calegare will be leading a delegation to Brazil for our next building in our efforts with the University of Sao Paulo-ESALQ later this semester as well.  And lastly, President Milliken recently led a
delegation to Turkey which included our own Suat Irmak.  We will be talking further this week about what may unfold in the future there in Asia Minor to build upon UNL’s historical investment in Ataturk University a number of decades ago.

It is imperative for global food and natural resource security that we invest in these programs.  Even more importantly, it is imperative our UNL students are engaged with their counterparts in these areas of the world so they can work together to create a healthy future for our planet and people.  We are well on our way to making that happen and I hope you will all engage as we journey down this wide open road ahead.

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Thank you for your participation in this week’s IANR All Hands Meeting.  If you would like to ask any follow-up questions, review the power point slides or watch the presentation; you can do so by going to  http://ianrhome.unl.edu/web/ianr/ianr-2025.

During the presentation I mentioned our interest in re-inventing the C.Y. Thompson Library facility to add additional services and user-friendly spaces for students, faculty and staff. While part of this facility would  still serve as a library, we’re interested in your  thoughts for ways to increase the use of the facility. Please take a couple of minutes to give us your ideas related to this space. http://go.unl.edu/cytlibrary

I also drew your attention to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) report during the All Hands Meeting.   Now is the time for us to get involved and have a discussion about what role we can play in this discussion as it moves forward.  Please respond to the post with any suggestions you may have.

This is a real “turning point” time for agricultural research, education, and extension and I intend for Nebraska to be out ahead of the turn.  I welcome your dialogue.

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First, a belated welcome back from the holidays and I trust the first week of the spring semester has gotten off with a bang.  As I was leaving Nebraska yesterday afternoon to head to a Farm Foundation meeting in Alabama, I was really pleased to be navigating through standing water on the Lincoln streets from new rain and melting snow! Hope we continue to see some more of this thing called moisture as we go through the winter months ahead.

I am writing to remind and encourage your engagement in two upcoming events in the week ahead. We have the great opportunity at 7 p.m. Tuesday (January 15) in the Hardin Hall auditorium to hear from my long-time friend and animal science colleague Dr. Temple Grandin, a world leader in understanding livestock behavior and designing livestock handling facilities.  She is the first Heuermann Lecturer in 2013.

I will be hosting a conversation with Dr. Grandin around the topic of “Improving Animal Welfare and Communication with the Public.”  A short reception follows the event.  I hope you’ll come, and encourage your students to attend, as well.

An animal sciences professor at Colorado State University, Grandin is the author of numerous articles and several books.  Her “Animals in Translation” was a New York Times bestseller, while “Livestock Handling and Transport” is in its third edition.

Her many awards include the Meritorious Achievement Award from the Livestock Conservation Institute and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Born autistic, she is a past member of the board of directors of the Autism Society of America.  She has said it is her ability to think in pictures that helps her help animals and their handlers using low-stress, behavior-based livestock handling techniques and facilities she has developed.

I hope to see you at Hardin Hall Tuesday night for the first Heuermann Lecture in 2013, and the third in our 2012-2013 season.

Secondly, I want to draw your attention to our next IANR ALL HANDS session that will be held on Thursday, January 17th in the Great Plains Room of the Nebraska East Union.  The doors will open at 8:30 am and the presentation will also be video-streamed for those not able to attend in person.  Please go to http://ianrhome.unl.edu/ianr-2025 to watch the presentation and post questions.

This will be the fourth of our IANR ALL HANDS sessions since January 2011 and I strongly encourage you to plug in to engage with us as we discuss the implications of discussions in both Lincoln and Washington, DC affecting our budget in the future (including how this is expected to allow us to continue very positively on our growth plan to 2017), the implementation phase of our faculty growth plan in 2013, the current status and next steps on phase I of Nebraska Innovation Campus, the vision moving forward for UNL Extension (including the relationship with the new University of Nebraska Rural Futures Institute), and our strategies and plans in global engagement.  I will be joined in the program of this session by members of our IANR and UNL leadership team Ron Yoder, Dan Duncan, Chuck Hibberd, and Mark Doyle in covering these topics, respectively.

Again, welcome back and I hope we see as many of you as possible at both of these events next week.

Best wishes for a wonderful semester.

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