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I am proud of all that CAFNR faculty, staff and students did to successfully complete two terms of socially distanced learning. Getting to this finish line is nothing short of incredible! We celebrated our seniors in-person with three ceremonies Saturday, May 15. See photos and fun on our Flickr page. Commencement is the best day in the life of a university, and, after two virtual commencement celebrations, it felt even more special! Thank you to everyone who helped plan and execute these celebrations! This class was extra special to me as we started at Mizzou at the same time – August 2017! At commencement I challenged our graduating seniors to know their own values and apply them as they embark on their next chapter. I offer the same advice to you! Your values will guide you when times are good and anchor you through challenging times. I maintain a written copy of my values as a graphic, and I keep that image close to me at all times. For me, that constant visual reminder is important. Thank you to Bryon Wiegand for serving as our new division director in Animal Sciences – and to Bill Lamberson for his service in that role previously. Dr. Lamberson will stay on to work on special projects for the college until his retirement at the end of September. I have had a variety of meetings this month, including donors and potential donors; faculty meetings and/or open office hours with different programs; a chance to catch up with our Staff Council co-chairs; the Council of Deans meeting; and divisional budget meetings. I have visited with Tom Spencer, interim vice chancellor for research, Mike Deering, executive vice president, Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, and Don Nikodim, executive vice president, Missouri Pork Association. We are working now to identify the next director for our Fisher Delta Research Center. Nominations can be sent to Grover Shannon at shannong@missouri.edu. I was honored to be with Ag Education and Leadership students earlier this month for a leadership profile interview group project. Our students are always impressive! I was proud to attend our Division of Applied Social Sciences’ IDE Awards Reception May 3, as well as the President’s End of Semester Celebration Reception May 6. Coming up this week I will attend the Missouri Innovation Center Board Meeting as well as a retreat for CAFNR leadership. We continue to work with our colleagues in HES toward a smooth transition to CAFNR. Thanks to all of you for your help in getting us to a 98 percent completion rate for MyVITA self-evaluations this year! Among other colleges on campus, only HES matched this incredible rate (thanks to those of you in PFP and NEP who contributed to that mark, too!) Please take a moment to learn more about notable Asian Pacific Americans in agriculture, food and natural resources, as CAFNR celebrates Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Those featured include alumni, faculty members and others in fields studied in CAFNR. I appreciated listening to many of you during the CAFNR International Programs’ listening session, Challenges Facing People of Asian Origin and Descent, last week. It took courage to share your stories; everyone in attendance will learn from them. It is wonderful to see many of you back on campus! I hope the return to the office is going well – and I hope you enjoy time with family and friends this Memorial Day holiday weekend. CAFNR Proud, Christopher R. Daubert, Ph.D.
CAFNR Vice Chancellor & Dean |
