CAHNRS has amazing personnel, friends, and alumni! #CougsGive was a great success for our college, surpassing last year. Ashley Gardipe, Kym Schmauss, and our department chairs did a great job reaching out to alumni, and our partners were incredibly generous in providing match opportunities. I can’t wait to see what we accomplish next year!
I am excited to hear that our departments’ first-year student enrollment outlooks are on par with or ahead of last year! The Department of Animal Sciences is up double digits percentage points in commitment numbers compared to a year ago. Smaller departments are a student or two ahead or below. These next few weeks will be telling as financial aid deadlines approach. There is an outstanding program planned for the upcoming FFA event, which returns to Pullman this year. I am optimistic the event will secure even more commitments.
While we are preparing to send this year’s class off into the world to put their skills and knowledge to use, we are considering carefully what additional measures we can take to ensure the success of our incoming classes. Taking a suggestion from one of our CAHNRS faculty and following the College of Arts and Sciences’ lead, we are offering all CAHNRS faculty, instructors, and lecturers the opportunity for mental health first-aid training. Our friend Gordon Davis’ endowment funds make this possible. Please watch for more information through the CAHNRS listserv to learn about participating.
I’m spending the first few days of this week in Spokane for a workshop focused on agriculture threats. I had a chance to hear Kip Tom speak at a conference last year and enjoyed learning more from him this week. Meetings with chairs and directors to review the year’s unit successes and challenges wind down this week. It’s been great to spend time with each of the leaders, focusing on their units and their own successes. The preparation and meetings with the unit leader, myself, and the associate deans take a bit of time, but I wonder if just the meeting wouldn’t be worth completing twice a year. Something to consider.
It is already time to start thinking about a fall roadshow to meet with our teams across the state. We received feedback about roadshow timing, with some suggesting we keep it in the fall and others proposing winter meetings. In 2024 we will again conduct fall visits, but will change the time of day based on feedback proposing we keep the meetings to only the afternoon. More information to come.
I turned my heat off, forcing spring to get here once and for all. I think I am safe. It is definitely time for the summer pace to arrive.