AgEconnection Spring 2012 : Page 2
AgEcomment Farewell, but not necessarily goodbye John P. Nichols Department Head When we last communicated with you through AgEconnection , we were on the leading edge of a major move of the entire Department to our new home on the West Campus. The effort proved to be much more time-consuming than we ever could have imagined, but the results certainly meet our highest expectations. The location in closer proximity to most of the rest of the College and to both the Mays Business School and the Department of Economics is a benefit to faculty and students. The move required many decisions on where faculty and staff would be housed within the Department and different configura-tions and working arrangements. I am pleased to report that after a shake-down year we have worked out most of the unan-ticipated difficulties and solved most of the problems within our physical confines. Adjusting to the economic downturn is another big factor with impact on Department programs and our ability to respond to opportunities. Budgets across the University, College and Agencies were cut by as much as 15 percent. I am sure this is no surprise to you as everyone has had to find ways to cut back. In our case, we have had a number of faculty retirements and departures and are planning only a few new hires. Changes and doubling up in teaching and extension assignments have helped to maintain the momentum in most areas. A self-study and external academic review this past year will provide guidance for further strategic adjustments and is setting the stage for a full review of our undergraduate curriculum next year. Despite the budget woes, prospective stu-dent applications to our department remain strong. Enrollment is holding at around 700 undergraduates with some reduction this past year as we tightened our require-ments for transfer students to complete their math before entering the program. Opportunities for some new “high impact learning” activities have also presented them-selves in the budget realignment in the form of new support to the Department to expand our study abroad, internship and honors pro-grams. Highlighted elsewhere in this issue is our agribusiness study abroad program in France. With some additional funding our faculty are evaluating new international student learning experiences in Costa Rica and South Africa with a potential start date in 2013. Over the past year we have devel-oped an honors program in our Department as part of a University-wide effort begin-ning with four courses and expanding to six currently. Such offerings are designed to challenge students to go beyond the mini-mum and to provide experiences which will prepare them more fully to compete in our increasingly global economy. Excellence has always been a hallmark of our department, its faculty, staff and students. Many of our recent awards are listed elsewhere, but I want to note two of the highest recognitions received this year: Kerry Litzenberg was named as the National Instructor of the Year by USDA and the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities (APLU). David Bessler was elected as a Fellow of our leading professional society, the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA). These prestigious awards are hard earned and well deserved. And they reflect well on our entire faculty, the Department and our current and for-mer students. I know you will enjoy our lead articles high-lighting some new directions we are taking in agribusiness, consumer and food market-ing through re-energizing this work under a new brand, AFCERC, and our substantial new developments in entrepreneurship. In closing, I want to share with you a bit of my plans. After 44 years on the faculty I look forward to retiring this summer. However, I plan to stay active with several on-going professional projects and also seek other ways to serve the Department. I have been honored to serve as head of this great department and look forward to its continued growth and development. I am sure that our former students will continue to excel in their chosen professions and will also continue to find ways to support the Department through sharing of ideas, working with our faculty, and providing opportunities for our new graduates and through development efforts. Parr rosson has been named Head of the Department. “(Rosson) is uniquely qualified to lead (the) Department and build upon some of the nation’s top faculty, students, re-search and extension programming,” Mark Hussey, Vice Chancellor and Dean of COALS, says. Click HeRe for more on this announcement. 2 A g E connEction
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