April is always the busiest month on a college campus, and I have been enjoying all the activity this year! First and foremost, I appreciate the chance to celebrate our outstanding faculty, staff and students in CAFNR. Thanks so much to those of you who nominated colleagues for awards for our annual Celebration of Excellence awards ceremony, and those who attended! You can see all of the award winners on our CAFNR website.

I also thank MU President Mun Choi for speaking at our Spring Faculty/Staff Meeting earlier this month – a lot of great news was shared that day about our college and students.

In addition, I appreciate Dr. Tom Spencer being part of the annual Mizzou Showcase at the Kansas City Agribusiness Council’s April luncheon. It was invigorating to hear about the plans for research on campus and how our college fits in.

Also this month, I have:

• Continued interviews with candidates for core and MizzouForward faculty positions
• Attended the Land of the Osages Research Center Advisory Board Meeting
• Started Division Director performance reviews
• Participated in IFT meetings
• Attended the Missouri Cooperative Unit Biennial Meeting
• Participated in the Mizzou Spring General Faculty Meeting
• Attended the Principe Italia Ribbon Cutting event in Columbia
• Visited with attendees at the CAFNR New Employee Welcome
• Met with Provost Latha Ramchand
• Attended the 2023 Womack Missouri Ag Outlook Conference
• Met with Chris Chinn in Jefferson City
• Participated in a budget meeting with Vice Chancellor Rhonda Gibler
• Visited with Gary Wheeler from our CAFNR Foundation
• Attended the Council of Deans meetings
• Participated in the MU Remembers Ceremony
• Spoke at both the Alpha Gamma Rho Founders Day Celebration and the Alpha Gamma Sigma 100th Founders Day Celebration
• Gave the CAFNR Administrative Leadership Council Mid-Year Update
• Participated in the Advancing Research Focus Group
• Spoke at the Advancement Gift Planning Webinar
• Welcomed students to the 95th Annual Missouri FFA Convention
• Attended the President’s Distinguished Lecture, featuring The Honorable Sethuraman Panchanathan, Director of NSF

Today I am excited to attend the first in-person MOAES Statewide Committee meeting. Still to come this month, I will participate in Faculty Excellence Week activities, including the Faculty Recognition Ceremony; continue Division Director performance reviews; participate in the CAFNR and Extension Luncheon; and attend the Golden Quill Alumni Excellence Award Event and Jefferson Club Annual Dinner.

Please join CAFNR Staff Advisory Council for the “Hit it out of the Park” Social, 12-1:30 p.m., Friday, May 12, in the Courtyard between ABNR and the Ag Building. You can snag a classic ballpark treat for lunch, partake in yard games and crafts, and be part of grand-slam giveaways. Attendees can also pick up their tickets for the Mizzou-Indiana State baseball game!

Finally, I was honored to be elected as the 2024 President of the Institute of Food Technologists by my peers earlier this month. Also, I was grateful to receive an Honorary State FFA Degree at state convention last week. I am always impressed with the students I meet and their advisors. I am delighted to accept these honors on behalf of our great college and university.

CAFNR Proud,

Christopher R. Daubert, Ph.D.
CAFNR Vice Chancellor & Dean

Join me on LinkedIn! I’m excited to post more on this platform and connect with all of you. Here I will showcase all of the great research, student achievements, program impact, awards and honors and much more!

Kristen Barwick, junior in biochemistry, was one of four University of Missouri students selected as a Goldwater Scholar for 2023. Each year, universities nominate up to four students for this prestigious national scholarship — this year, all four nominees from Mizzou were named to the scholar program.

The Goldwater Scholarship is a competitive national scholarship program that recognizes outstanding undergraduate students in the fields of mathematics, natural sciences and engineering. It provides $7,500 for tuition, fees, books, and room and board, and is awarded based on academic merit, research experience and potential for future achievement. This year, 413 scholars were selected nationwide.

Barwick has been involved with research since her freshman year on campus. She focuses on working with bacteria to create a specific antibody to help locate proteins that can be used in further studies.

Eckles Event Center
The contacts for anyone interested in using the Eckles Event Center space are Matt Fleming, flemingmc@missouri.edu, and Secley Kennedy, kennedyse@missouri.edu.

Staff Performance Evaluation Workshop
As a reminder, annual evaluation forms are now live for staff in myHR and staff supervisors in PeopleSoft Manager Self-Service. Supervisor evaluations for staff should be completed by no later than June 16, 2023, so that the rating can be considered in the merit process. This process, if conducted effectively, can improve employee performance and engagement as well as help inform leadership during the merit process.

To assist you with this process, we will be hosting a virtual workshop on the days/times listed below to accommodate as many schedules as possible (Zoom information is included in the calendar attachments). If you plan to attend one of these sessions, please register here. Time will be spent learning about the overall performance evaluation process, the purpose of the process, and best practices for delivering effective and valuable feedback to staff employees. Please also feel free to bring any questions you may have about the process!

• Wednesday, May 10, 10-10:45 a.m.
• Tuesday, May 16, 1-1:45 p.m.
• Friday, May 19, 11-11:45 a.m.
• Monday, May 29, 2-2:45 p.m.

Electronic Signatures
The University Enterprise electronic signature (e-signature) service is changing from DocuSign to Adobe Acrobat Sign. For more details please visit Division of IT’s website.

Computer OS upgrade
Keep your University computer OS up to date using Software Center. Software Center will not require administrator credentials. If you are prompted for credentials when installing from Software Center, try using your personal university credentials. Before you begin it is recommended that you empty your trash and restart your computer. Any pending reboots or a full hard drive could lead to an installation failure. It occasionally takes two tries for success. If after two tries it fails, please contact cafnrit@missouri.edu for assistance.

• Windows: Locate and run Install Windows 11 found in Software Center.
• Mac: Locate and run Install Ventura found in Software Center.