This is a tremendously exciting time as we  move today in to a record setting graduation for UNL and CASNR.  I am loving it.

As you know, one of the outcomes of the IANR to 2025 process was to streamline IANR communications and to develop new branding of what we are about in IANR.  There have been a lot of people involved in this process for over a year and I am very, very pleased with the results.  Jill Brown, Mark Balschweid, Brandon Schulte and our EdMedia team,  and Meg Lauerman have provided exceptional leadership to the effort.

One of the first steps in this process was to develop a new bi-annual publication that we have labeled with our new “tag line” – Growing a Healthy Future – Food, Fuel, Water, Landscapes, People.  The first edition of this magazine was mailed out to almost 30,000 of our alumni, supporters, stakeholders, and partners earlier this week and we have been receiving rave reviews back as it has been received.

The issue is also posted on our home page at www.ianr.unl.edu/growing in an interactive PDF format.  If you have not already seen it, I encourage you to go there to enjoy the fruit of the team’s efforts and to learn about just a smattering of the unbelievable things happening across IANR.

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We are thrilled to be hosting over 460 participants for our first national conference focusing on Rural Futures — Connecting Innovation to unfold May 8-10 at the Cornhusker Hotel in Lincoln.   This effort has been in the planning stages for over a year and we are looking forward to it being a seminal event in envisioning how the land-grant university can work at a much higher and comprehensive level to inform how to make our rural landscapes and communities sustainable and healthy over the long-term horizon.  This is a particularly important issue for Nebraska and other states in the Great Plains region of North America, with extended pertinence to regions around the world.

The conference is designed to bring together local, state, national and international stakeholders interested in thinking about the future of rural regions and landscapes.  You can see specific details about the speakers at the conference by going to the conference website at http://ruralfutures.nebraska.edu/conference.

Due to the overwhelming response, registration was closed a few weeks ago.  However, conference postings will be available on Facebook (http://Facebook.com/ruralfutures) and Twitter @rural_futures, #RFC2012.  Conference presentations are being recorded and will be posted on the conference website.

For those of you attending the conference, I hope you are an active participant in the conference and take advantage of the opportunity to connect, brainstorm, and dream big with others in attendance.  One of the questions we will address during the conference is what role a University of Nebraska Rural Futures Institute would serve to our state and the greater Great Plains region.

The proposed Rural Futures Institute (RFI) is a system-wide University of Nebraska effort. The Institute will place value on partnering with Nebraska and regional stakeholders. The initial beliefs about the RFI and the work it commissions and supports must be:

• Future-focused – looks beyond past and current issues to emerging and future
  opportunities and challenges.
• Innovative – encourages and funds innovative and revolutionary
  research/teaching/engagement.
• Strategic – focuses on creative, strategic policy proposals that both encourage
  and liberate rural places, individuals and organizations to deliberately and
  actively pursue a positive future.
• Engaging and Collaborative – builds teams and communities of academics,
  partners and rural residents/leaders who work together to pursue positive
  change.
• Dynamic – continuously and systematically studies the environment to identify
  and address new opportunities and challenges.
• Risk Diverse – supports bold ideas that may have higher risk in exchange for
  potentially higher rewards; criteria for measuring success include
  replicability and scalability.
• Reflective – creates learning communities that continuously assess, evaluate and
  make mid-course adjustments as needed.
• Inter-disciplinary – a broad range of fields and disciplines have much to
  contribute to the RFI and to positive rural futures – some of the most exciting
  and creative work is likely to come at the interstice of existing disciplines.
• Capacity Building – the work should focus on emerging opportunities and
  challenges in addition to expanding the capacity of all stakeholders to respond
  quickly and effectively to unforeseen opportunities and challenges.

These are exciting times and I look forward to interacting with many of you on these important issues at next week’s conference.

A big thanks to our conference planning team of Mark Gustafson, Sam Cordes, Kim Peterson, Kim Wilson, Kayla Schnuelle, and Rachael Herpel for all of the dedication, passion and creativity they have poured into the conference.  All of their hours of hard work will be enjoyed by all in attendance and will be remembered for many years to come.  Hope to see many of you there.

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We are thrilled to announce the “Grow Eat Learn” video competition.  The goal of this competition is for you to create engaging videos that educate the public on the food they eat and the importance of agriculture and natural resource stewardship in feeding the world.

Rules:

1. Videos must be no longer than two minutes.
2. Include the GrowEatLearn.unl.edu website within the video.
3. Load video into YouTube.
4. Fill out the contest submission form: http://research.unl.edu/events/GrowEatLearn.php
5. Be creative.
6. Have fun!

After receiving all of the entries, the approved videos will be put on the GrowEatLearn.unl.edu website on June 25, when the website is formally launched. The three videos that get the most views on YouTube by noon (CST) August 1, 2012 will receive a cash stipend of $500. There is no limit to the number of entries you can submit.

This competition is open to all Nebraska residents as well as all UNL students,
faculty, staff and alumni.  Videos entered into the competition may be used for future promotions as part of the GrowEatLearn.unl.edu website.

This contest is being sponsored by the “Transforming Food and Natural Resources, IANR to 2025” team who were charged  to develop an integrated plan for enhancements in comprehensive student programs including interdisciplinary programs in the life sciences, NU system-wide food and natural resource literacy programming and requirements, general curriculum, minors, online options, 4-H and FFA curricula, and life-long learners curricula.

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Engage, Engage, Engage for Extension Dean and Director . . .

I hope all is going well for you and that you are enjoying the unusual spring we have experienced these past weeks.  I am writing to give you an update regarding the status of the search for the next dean and director of UNL Extension.

We welcomed four finalists to interview with us for this critically important leadership role during the month of March.  I appreciated very much the level of interest that each of them shared for the position and was impressed with their past records of professional accomplishment.  However, after diligently reviewing the feedback from our internal and external clientele, and after consulting the search advisory committee, I reached the conclusion we had not yet identified the candidate that best fits our needs and
expectations for leading UNL Extension in to the future.  No further candidates were recommended from the search pool by the committee, so we have now moved in to a new phase of the search where I will invite candidates to interview with us who are very well positioned for the role.

I am a firm believer in making sure key positions like this one — where the right mix of vision, strategic thinking, and ability to manage and execute a large and complex team is absolutely essential – end up with the best possible leader in place.

This past week, we announced that Dr. Don Adams, current director of the West Central District of UNL Extension, will be coming to campus to formally interview for the position on May 1-3. Dr. Adams’ public seminar will be held on May 1 at 3:30 pm in the Arbor Suite of the Nebraska East Union and will be web-streamed live and archived for those connecting online.  Dr. Adams’ credentials are also available for review at www.Extension.unl.edu .  I could not be more pleased that Dr. Adams has agreed to take a close look at this opportunity.

While I know the timing is not ideal in being the last week of the academic spring semester and a busy time of year across the state, I strongly encourage all of our IANR community to seriously engage in the interview process with Dr. Adams.  This is truly a critical role for the “translational” outreach arm of our mission – and the person who takes on this opportunity will in large part be responsible for molding and crafting the continued evolution and innovation of extension programs and programming that will keep Nebraska in a lead role nationally.  Their impact will be felt in Nebraska and beyond for decades to come.

So the message for the day is engage, engage, engage in the process as we welcome Dr. Adams to campus for this important dialogue.

As always, thanks so much for all you continue to do.

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Colleagues-

One of the things that I learned at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as a graduate student “many moons ago” was that the unsung heroes of IANR are our administrative professionals and other support staff.  I saw it in wonderful people like Donna White, administrative professional to my major professor Gordon Dickerson, and Dora Dill, who later served in ARD as the administrative assistant to the dean and director.  I saw it in true servants like Vicky Kobes, Leo Masek, Minnie Stephens, and too many others to  mention in the Department of Animal Science.

Today, I am sure that you are like me and can look around your own “shop” and immediately see the impact of these servants who every day ensure our success with their hard work, commitment, passion, friendliness, and smiles.

Today is Administrative Professionals Day – so I hope you take advantage of the opportunity to say thanks in your own way to these special people in our community and lives.

I know that Murd Holland, Linda Arnold, Janet Means, and Zaneta Hahn are the real reason that YOUR vice chancellor’s office is able to serve you and our many constituents so well every day.  I am blessed to be able to work by their side every day.

Thanks to all of you for making a difference and Happy Administrative Professionals Day!

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Celebration of Milestones

A university’s quality and impact is a direct reflection of the community of its faculty and  the many professionals who support them.  Underpinning that quality and impact on the world is the tenure and promotion system by which our faculty members are appointed.

I distinctly remember the times in my own academic career when the “milestones” of tenure and promotion were reached.  Beyond the sense of personal accomplishment at all of the amazing things that had been accomplished in work with students and partners in our research, teaching, and extension programs – it also was a time of profound gratitude for having the opportunities that had been afforded to us by the Universities where we served.  Furthermore, it was a time of renewed commitment to the mission of the land-grant university for making a direct difference in the lives of people and the state(s) where we served, which for me personally at the time was in Texas and Colorado.

I recall in 1997 when my packet was being forwarded at Colorado State University for promotion to full professor of animal science.  I was teaching a junior-level required course in animal genetics that semester with around 175 students.  At the last lecture of that semester, I chose to just have a “life” conversation with the class – with the primary message being that when they came to the point in their lives when their “dossiers” were being reviewed, that I hoped they would be able to look back at all of the contents with the description that everything in there was to make a difference for someone else.  I still feel that way today.

Last Tuesday, Ellen Weissinger and I hosted a UNL celebration in honor of all of our faculty members who were tenured and promoted this academic year.  Reviewing their files in that process was indeed humbling for me – as it brought to full  light how truly blessed we are at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to work with such talented, committed, and giving people who truly care about making a difference for someone else.  This year for IANR, that included 32 faculty members, including 7 who received tenure for the first time.

Congratulations to all of you, enjoy the accomplishment – and then with renewed sense of commitment forge ahead to continue to change the world with your impact on students, your research, and translation of it to the world.

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CASNR week is a great time to celebrate all that our college is doing and recognize our outstanding students, faculty and staff.   Earlier this week was the Love Hall Chili Feed, Bull-a-Thon, Fun Run, CASNR Banquet, Blood Drive, Lunch on the Lawn and Community Night.  All events went fabulously and were well attended.

Next up we have the Club Adviser Luncheon on Wednesday and the TA Luncheon on Thursday.  Also on Thursday is the AGR/Sigma Alpha BBQ at 5 pm at the AGR house.  The Burr Hall Bull Fry will be on Saturday from 3-7 PM in front of Burr Hall.  The week wraps up with the UNL Rodeo at the Lancaster Events Center.  Rodeo performances are Thursday at 7:30 PM, Friday at 7:30 PM, Saturday at 1:30 and 7:30 and Sunday at 1:30 PM.

Hope to see you at many of the upcoming events!

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I am continually impressed by the quality of the faculty, staff and students in the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.  I also thoroughly enjoy seeing others recognize the great work you all are doing.  This week was a great example.  President James B. Milliken announced the 2012 winners of the university’s most prestigious awards for research, teaching and engagement.  IANR had three of the six award winners!  Tiffany Heng-Moss received the Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award (OTICA), Chris Calkins received the Innovation, Development and Engagement Award (IDEA), and Carolyn Edwards received the Outstanding Research and Creative Activity (ORCA) Award .    This week I also learned that two of our students received significant fellowships.  Jocelyn  Olney was named a 2012 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) recipient and Abbey Berkebile received a pre-doctoral fellowship from the National Science Foundation (NSF).  This is just a small splattering of  the great work that is being done in IANR, and I know that if I were to list every award given out this month, much less this year, this blog would go on for a number of pages.

A great University is defined by the excellence of its faculty, staff, and students.  At UNL,
this is so true.  Keep up the tremendous work!

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Last week we welcomed thousands of FFA members to Lincoln for the 84th  Nebraska State FFA Convention.  It was wonderful to see so many bright and enthusiastic future leaders exploring our campus as they competed in Career  evelopment Events.  This year we were fortunate to be able to host “Blue and  Gold: Experience the Power of Red” on Friday, March 30th.   FFA students had the opportunity to hear from Dr. Tom Field, Director of the Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program and participate in a wide variety of workshops focusing on topics such as veterinary science, natural resources, plant breeding, animal science and entomology.  It was inspiring to see students engaging with our faculty and staff throughout the afternoon of activities.  We hope that the event exposed students to a variety of academic programs and career opportunities and with continued active recruiting that someday they may call CASNR their academic home.  A big thanks goes out to the 50+ IANR faculty and staff who made this event a success.  Next year we plan to expand our festivities across all programs as well as hosting a “big tent” opening activity, so mark April 5, 2013 on your calendar and plan to join in this terrific recruitment opportunity!

At the Friday evening closing FFA session, I shared with the students, parents, and friends of FFA how exciting it would be to wear their shoes today at a time when the world has come to the rather recent realization that “AG IS SEXY AND YOU KNOW IT” because the biggest challenges facing the planet are all currently directly crossing over top of our food and natural resource systems.  In the past couple of months I have started using this statement more and more to describe the times we are living in – and the importance of our mission in IANR.  While it is a little unconventional, I think it relays it very well – and particularly points out to the next generation of our leaders the excitement of going in to any of the professional fields in agriculture and natural resources in the 21^st century.

I hope that you and yours have a wonderful Easter weekend and can enjoy the beauty of this year’s “early summer” we are experiencing.  Thanks for all you do every day in making a difference.

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