Administrative Council Meeting Minutes
May 20, 2013
Attendees: Dr. Michael Galyean, Dr. Sukant Misra, Dr. Cindy Akers, Jane Piercy, Dr. Leslie
Thompson, Dr. Richard Zartman, Dr. Eduardo Segarra, Dr. Alon Kvashny, Dr. Mark Wallace,
and Norman Martin
1. Liz Cosgrove from the ELS Language Center gave a presentation on the services the ELS
office provides.
2. Minutes from the April 15, 2013 Administrative Council meeting were approved as
distributed.
3. Dr. Misra asked the chairs to nominate one faculty member from their department to
serve on the Faculty Retreat Planning Committee. Because the retreat topic will be
centered on using technology in the classroom as well as for research and outreach
purposes, it should be someone who is familiar with this topic. Dr. Courtney Meyers,
will serve as chair of the committee.
4. Other
Jane Piercy thanked the chairs for getting students to attend the San Antonio Livestock
Exposition scholarship meeting. She noted their presence made a huge impact, and the
meeting went well.
Dr. Cindy Akers passed out the Student Success Center report for April/May. The
applications/admits numbers will be sent out as soon as they get some corrected numbers.
There was an error on the report for NRM.
Dr. Zartman announced Dr. David Weindorf has accepted the B. L. Allen Professorship
position in Plant and Soil Science.
Dr. Eduardo Segarra reported that Agricultural and Applied Economics had a good group
of students graduating this semester. About 68% of the graduates have jobs, 10% are
going on to graduate or law school, and 20% are still looking or considering current
offers.
Dr. Misra noted that a multi-disciplinary proposal has been submitted to the Gates
Foundation regarding using wind energy for irrigation and community-level power
generation purposes in Ethiopia. A USAID proposal has also been submitted in regards
to Ethiopia. In addition, three faculty members in PSS are currently developing
proposals for the Borlaug Fellowship Program through the USDA to host international
researchers.
Dr. Misra also reported that the funds for the President’s Graduate Assistantships will be
available when we have received the budget for next fiscal year. The allocations will be
for 2 years, and the funds will not cover tuition or fee waivers. Those funds will need to
come out of the department budgets. You will be allowed to “change” students, as long
as it is a new student to the program.
Dr. Mark Wallace thanked the chairs for all the support he has received over the last few
months. He also announced he will be returning part-time in the afternoons on a fairly
regular basis.
Dr. Wallace announced that Natural Resources Management is still negotiating with a
candidate for the Climate Science position and they are planning interviews for the
Quantitative Ecology/Statistics position. The Bricker Chair position is also still
advertised and applications are being accepted. He also noted changes have been made
to update the NRM website, and it is looking much better.
Dr. Kvashny reported the job market for Landscape Architecture graduates is looking
better, and they are beginning to see more hires. In addition, everyone who applied for
an internship this semester received one.
Dr. Galyean noted he has received some reports from some faculty/staff regarding our
new healthcare provider, United HealthCare, that have not been favorable. Please poll
your faculty and staff of their perceptions regarding the new provider’s services, and send
the findings to Julann. Dr. Galyean will then send a letter on behalf of CASNR faculty
and staff to the appropriate people.
Dr. Galyean also reported the Associate Dean for Research position is still open and a
new search will be initiated. He is open to suggestions for internal and/or external
qualified candidates.
The nominations for University and CASNR Awards for the 2013-14 academic year were
discussed and decided on.