I remain confident that I won’t need the snow shovel before departing Washington next month, though our recent temperatures made me stop and think about it. Twenty years ago, when I visited Olympic National Park and western Washington, we found three feet of snow on Hurricane Ridge and a snowstorm at Mount Rainier. I am spending this weekend there and am prepared for much the same weather this time. Soon enough the heat will return and, in my case, the humidity.
It’s field day season! Many of the annual events return in June; I will have the opportunity to attend a few of them. A couple of new events are planned as well, including a USDA Agricultural Research Service field day to showcase their programs and highlight how ARS and WSU partner. Next week, I get to see progress on the new USDA-ARS Plant Biosciences Building on campus. It is hard to believe we are less than a year from occupancy!
On Monday, I participated in the U.S.-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development (BARD) Fund board of directors meeting. Intended to be held in Israel, this meeting was held via a long Zoom call instead of traveling, similar to last year. The meeting agenda included review and approval of funding recommendations from the different committees and determination of investment caps for this next cycle. CAHNRS does well in this program and it is nice to see strong representation of WSU in the proposals. CAHNRS also has a number of faculty who serve on review panels for the different program areas.
We’ve had a few busy weeks for interviews and have a few more ahead of us. It is time to get working on offers for multiple searches. I want to thank all of the search committee members, as well as the students, staff, and faculty who have welcomed candidates and taken time to make them feel welcome. While searches take a bite out of our schedules, it is a nice problem to have as we start getting ready for new students and the fall semester.
I hope everyone gets some downtime this weekend and enjoys a bit of summer fun!