Administrative Council Meeting Minutes
October 15, 2012
Attendees: Dr. Michael Galyean, Dr. Cindy Akers, Dr. Sukant Misra, Dr. Leslie Thompson, Dr.
Richard Zartman, Dr. Steve Fraze, Dr. Brad Dabbert, Dr. Eduardo Segarra, Dr. Alon Kvashny,
Jane Piercy, Reagan Ribordy, and Norman Martin
1. Minutes from the September 17, 2012 Administrative Council meeting were approved as
distributed.
2. Graduate Student Incentive Scholarships – monies have been set aside to allow $60,000
per department to fund graduate student stipends for FY12 starting with Spring 2013.
This can be for either M.S. or Ph.D. programs. To qualify for the funding, students must
be new in these programs for the Spring 2013 semester. Our goal is 30 new graduate
students for the spring. Please get student numbers to Dr. Misra by November 1st, so that
if adjustments are needed to the amount of funding per department, there will be ample
time. This funding will be continued at $60,000 for FY14 and at $30,000 for FY15.
3. Budget and Faculty Position Update – Currently, these are the number of positions that
each department has filled or is in the process of filling:
AAEC (1 position)
Statistical and Quantitative Applied Methods (new)
AE&C (none)
AFS (8 positions)
Department Chair (Dr. Thompson’s position)
Equine (Dr. Wilson’s position)
Targeted Hire – Beef Cattle Nutrition, Health, and Welfare (new)
Targeted Hire – Swine Nutrition, Health, and Welfare (new)
Ruminant Nutrition/Feedlot (Dr. Galyean’s position)
Food Engineering (Dr. Takhar’s position)
Growth and Development/Cell Biology (Dr. Starkey’s position)
Animal Behavior and Welfare (Dr. Sutherland’s position)
LA (1 position)
Landscape Architecture (Ms. Currie’s position)
NRM (6 positions)
Aquatic Science (Dr. Taylor’s position)
Fire Ecology (Dr. Rideout-Hanzak’s position)
Natural Resources Planning (Dr. Gipson’s position)
Quantitative Ecology (Dr. Wester’s position)
Sr. Strategic Hire – Climate Change (new)
Big Game Ecology (Dr. Ballard’s position)
PSS (7 positions)
Sr. Strategic Hire -- Forage (Thornton Chair)
Soil Chemistry (Dr. Allen’s position)
Turfgrass (Dr. Henry’s position)
Entomology (Dr. Thorvilson’s position)
Pedology (Dr. Hudnall’s position)
Targeted Hire – Cell Wall Biology/Biochemistry (new)
Targeted Hire – Renewable Bioproducts (new)
Dean’s Office (1 position)
Sr. Strategic Hire -- Associate Dean for Research (new)
4. Other
The STEM Education and Outreach meetings have been productive, and CASNR has had
good representation by Dr. Jon Ulmer, who has been very involved in this process from
the beginning. The Assistant Director positions for the Center will be filled by faculty,
and Dr. Galyean has sent a request for nominations to the Department Chairs. We hope
participation by our college in this Center will open more doors for funding opportunities.
Dr. Galyean thanked everyone who attended the Homecoming Breakfast on Saturday
morning and was very pleased with the new venue (Student Union – Red Raider
Ballroom) and the turnout. Approximately 200 faculty, staff, students, and alumni were
in attendance.
Dr. Misra reminded Chairs that they should have received an e-mail from him to update
information on each department’s international activities. If any funded programs have
an international component, please remind faculty to check the “international” box on the
Internal Routing Sheet. It does not have to be exclusively international in order to qualify
as an international activity/program. Many agencies do not know what our international
capability is and we are currently trying to develop a webpage to showcase what CASNR
is doing on an international basis. This should help open up more possible funding
opportunities in this area.
Dr. Misra reported that the university is still working on getting together a consortium
targeted at Ethiopia. The other universities involved in forming this consortium are
Kansas State University, Oklahoma State University, Langston University, Texas State
University, Tarleton State University, and Texas A&M University – Kingsville. The
suggested name for the consortium is: “Consortium for Sustainable Ethiopian Economic
Development (SEED).” They are planning to announce the consortium in Washington,
DC in the near future, as well as start the process of searching for funding opportunities.
Dr. Misra announced that Reagan Ribordy has been here five months in the Grants
Administrator position. Out of the 30+ grants/proposals that are currently being
coordinated by the Dean’s Office, Reagan has been involved in at least 20. Reagan will
forward to the Chairs a list of the projects she has been involved with so that you will
know what the Dean’s Office can do to help with these types of programs.
Dr. Misra reported that the status of the Brazilian graduate/post-doctoral student program
is still in the works; however, it is clear that this is a one-year program for graduate
students. He feels that is not a suitable amount of time for graduate students, and would
probably work better for post-doctoral students. In addition, funds are available for
faculty members for a fully funded sabbatical to Brazil, for up to three years. The funds
would be provided by the Brazilian Government.
Dr. Thompson reported that Homecoming Activities for Animal and Food Sciences went
well and their Hall of Fame Banquet had a great turnout as did the AFS tailgate. They
inducted 4 honorees into the “Hall of Fame,” as well as recognized members from the
1962 Rodeo Team and 1967 Meats Judging Team.
Dr. Thompson announced they have made a verbal offer for their Jr. Hire swine faculty
position, and they are bringing in three candidates over the next few weeks to interview
for the Jr. Hire beef faculty position.
Animal and Food Sciences will help host the “Ag in a Bag” program, and will have
approximately 1,200 students from the area learning more about agriculture.
Dr. Thompson also announced that Dub Parks Arena will be closed by January 1, 2013,
and all equipment, animals, etc. will be moved to the Equestrian Center.
Dr. Brad Dabbert (substituting for Dr. Mark Wallace, NRM) announced that his Quail
Tech Field day held in Breckenridge was successful, with approximately 50 in
attendance. Many NRM faculty/staff/students are attending the Wildlife Society
Meetings in Portland, Oregon this week.
Reagan Ribordy reported that approximately six programs/funding applications are
currently under development or being worked on for the Higher Education Challenge
Grant program.
Dr. Fraze announced that AEC’s second annual alumni dinner was held on Friday at the
Agriculture Museum, and that approximately 90 attended. Dr. Fraze indicated that
several of his faculty members are attending meetings for grant writing proposals, and
some are going to Washington, DC to search for funding.
Dr. Fraze also noted that AEC is in the process of revamping the “Doc at a Distance”
program, which is a joint program with Texas A&M University. Because of some Texas
AgriLife Extension cutbacks, as well as other issues, they saw a drop in numbers this
year. This is a good time to look at updating various aspects of the program.
Dr. Fraze reported that several faculty and students from AEC would be attending the
National FFA Convention in Indianapolis this month.
Dr. Zartman reported that the PSS Hall of Fame reception for Dr. George Tereshkovich
was a success, and about 50 people turned out for the event.
Dr. Zartman also indicated PSS will bring in two candidates to interview for the Jr. Hire
cell wall biology/biochemistry position, and that the pedology position (B. L. Allen
Chair) has been opened on the Texas Tech Jobs website.
Dr. Kvashny announced that LA had an alumni-student workshop for departmental
alumni and current students on Friday, in conjunction with Homecoming activities. In
addition, the National ASLA Association is pushing hard for LA to be included as a part
of STEM. This would help open doors for some additional funding opportunities.
Dr. Segarra reported that AAEC is moving right along. The department held an open
house on Saturday morning after the Homecoming Breakfast for any Alumni who were in
town.
Dr. Segarra announced they will have another candidate for the Statistical and
Quantitative Applied Methods position coming in for interviews the first part of
November. He also noted they have been having several graduate students defending this
semester and will have quite a few graduating this spring.
Dr. Akers reminded everyone today is University Day, and that 2,100 students had signed
up to participate. The reception held Sunday night was a huge success and had many in
attendance. She and Dr. Galyean spoke to many students about the college and had
inquiries regarding each one of our departments.
Dr. Akers announced that mid-term grading will be available on-line from October 15
through October 22. Please remind your faculty to post mid-term grades.
Dr. Akers asked the Chairs to please watch their inbox for e-mail regarding core
curriculum issues, and to please stay on top of the deadlines for revisions. Dr. Akers also
reported that the CASNR Career Expo will be held on February 27 in the SUB Ballroom,
from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Dr. Akers reported that AASCARR (American Association of State Colleges of
Agriculture and Renewable Resources) has dissolved, and has been reformed as NARRU
(Non-Land-Grant Agricultural and Renewable Resources Universities). Please take note
of this for future awards applications for your faculty if they have been nominated for one
of these awards.
Jane Piercy announced that the San Antonio Livestock Exposition scholarships and
grants applications have a November 1st deadline this year. Jane also reminded everyone
that Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo executives will be in Lubbock for their annual
luncheon on Monday of next week. She further reported that all TRIP funding that is
available for matching purposes has already been allocated for this year. The college has
been the recipient of a very generous six-figure gift, and that we have already received
over $100,000 with hopefully more to come.
Jane reminded everyone that if anyone is pursuing funding from a “foundation” they
always need to go through the Development Office.
Dr. Galyean indicated that nominations for new/additional CASNR Advisory Board
members have been received, and is working on some new ideas regarding how to best
utilize the Advisory Board.
Dr. Misra announced the Research Enhancement program was able to fully fund all 10 of
the proposals that were received this year. The total funded was $35,000.
Dr. Thompson reminded everyone that the Texas Tech Rodeo is this Thursday, Friday
and Saturday at the Texas Tech Equestrian Center, and encouraged all to come out and
support the Texas Tech Rodeo Team!