I hope many of you were able to enjoy the nice weather and perhaps some spring break downtime last week! Those of us that were in Washington, D.C., had good meetings with our federal partners and representatives. We managed to avoid travel disruptions. I left with a few ideas for new approaches and new partnerships. The ideas, if they pan out, will bring resources that allow CAHNRS to develop a well-trained workforce and have infrastructure that facilitates cutting-edge research, improving food security and natural resource protection. I have some follow-up to do.
In the meantime, and concurrent with pursuing those ideas, I am in Seattle part of this week to engage with the Apparel, Merchandising, Design & Textiles (AMDT) Advisory Board. We will talk about how AMDT’s work aligns with the pillars of building a resilient Washington, including training the workforce, improving health outcomes, and environmental stewardship — all through the lens of AMDT curriculum and research programs, in partnership with the industry.
Following Seattle, I spend the rest of the week in the Boise area traveling with Shea Saralecos to meet with industry partners, alums, and friends of CAHNRS. This portion of the week will be more ag-focused. The week, as a whole, nicely conveys the breadth of CAHNRS’ work and the importance of all facets in supporting Washington through the land-grant mission.
Congratulations to Blake Foraker and the meat judging team not only for a strong showing in Houston last week, but for hosting the Cougar Invitational Meat Judging Contest, also last week. The team did an exceptional job working with more than 140 participants who raved about how much they learned and how well organized the event was. There was no spring break for the WSU meat judging team this year, but hopefully they recognized how appreciated their efforts were!
I continue to work on annual review documents. The reviews start next week, and unit materials should start trickling in early this week. We’re also continuing our work on budget options for meeting the reductions. I know this is a difficult time for our chairs and directors. Please show them some gratitude!
Thanks for the inquiries about the Growth and Visioning Task Force. Members are encouraged to share our work with others. Current members of the task force are: Caitlin Bletscher, Shulin Chen, Ting Chi, David Crowder, Jean Dodson Peterson, Nick Dolce, Girish Ganjyal, Cynthia Gleason, Ani Jayakaran, Lee Kalcsits, Allyson Beall King, Jill McCluskey, Carol Miles, Michelle Moyer, Todd Murray, Holly Neibergs, Wendy Powers, Jennifer Putney, Brandon Schrand, Sarah Smith, Tarah Sullivan, Dan Teuteberg, and Patricia Townsend.
There are a couple of units without representation. If you are part of one of those units, please reach out to your chair or director and inquire about participating. CAHNRS is a big place with big impact. We want to be sure to include every unit’s voice as we build our programmatic vision.