Dean's update

September 22, 2008

We continue to make progress on our strategic planning activities. The open survey to all faculty and staff will go out in a few days. A modified survey will be sent to selected stakeholders to give them an opportunity to identify programs that are most important to them. Our department heads have nominated faculty to participate in a planning activity at the end of October. I will work with the associate deans to select faculty participants from among this group of nominees. We will also add several staff members to the group of participants.

I am working with the deans of CLAS and Engineering to schedule a meeting with interested faculty to explore our current capacity in energy-related research and to identify potential research collaborations and areas of research strength in order to better position our programs to take full advantage of potential new federal funding for energy-related research. A call will go out to faculty soon.

On Friday, I had the opportunity to attend a luncheon held at the Alumni Center to honor 40 alums under 40 who have made significant contributions in their careers. Two of our alums were recognized – Kevin Malloy (BS in Resource Economics and MS in Agricultural Economics), who is Senior Vice President of Distribution Finance at AXA Equitable Life Insurance and Marcela Vergara-Jimenez (PhD in Nutritional Sciences), who is Head of the Nutrition Department at the Autonomous University of Sinaloa, Mexico. I was very proud to represent our college as these two distinguished alums of our college were recognized by the Alumni Association.

Gregory J. Weidemann

Dean and Director