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Agriculture building

Aug. 25, 2020

CAFNR Welcomes New Faculty

Each fall the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri welcomes new faculty members who are ready to immerse themselves in teaching, research and Extension as integral parts of furthering our land-grant mission. Our six new faculty members bring a wealth of knowledge in their respective fields, and will be proudly welcomed into four of our six divisions: Animal Sciences, Applied Social Sciences, Food Systems & Bioengineering and Natural Resources. Our college is proud to introduce the new faculty members joining us for fall 2020: Michelle Brimecombe Assistant Teaching Professor, School of Natural Resources Brimecombe…
Cheryl Recker

Aug. 14, 2020

Q&A With Cheryl Recker

What are your job duties/job responsibilities in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources? I am a senior research and lab technician at the Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Center (HARC) in New Franklin. My title does not convey the full scope of my duties, though. I help with various research projects taking place at HARC. I am also the HR and fiscal officer for the Research Center. I assist HARC’s co-superintendents, Barry Eschenbrenner and Sarah Lovell, planning meetings, tours and field days, as well as HARC and the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry’s annual Missouri Chestnut Roast Festival.
Darcy Wells, second from the left, poses with her CAFNR Office of Advancement team during the 2019 CAFNR Column Award banquet. Wells is retiring as the CAFNR senior executive director for advancement after a 30-plus-year career in higher education. Her final day was July 3.

July 22, 2020

A Lifelong Learner

As Darcy Wells looks back on her 30-plus-year career in higher education, the majority of which took place at the University of Missouri, there’s one experience she does her best to overlook – a year at the University of Kansas. “It’s a little bit of an unmentionable experience that I definitely get a lot of grief for,” Wells joked. “Honestly, though, it was a first-class experience. I really enjoyed Lawrence and met so many exceptional people during that year.” It was actually that year away from Columbia that made Wells realize how much she missed being a Tiger. She joined…

June 11, 2020

Q&A With Teresa Davis

What are your job duties/job responsibilities in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources? My role is to support Christopher Daubert, CAFNR’s Vice Chancellor and Dean, and work collaboratively in a professional and friendly way with internal and external constituents to assist the dean and our college in furthering the mission and vision of CAFNR’s strategic plan “Drive to Distinction.” There is never a dull moment! How long have you worked in CAFNR (and at MU)? I began working at Mizzou in 1997 in the College of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction. I moved to the Office of…
Robert Sites demonstrates his famous juggling of elephant dung during the Thailand Study Abroad program. Sites has led the program for 14 straight years, and was one of two Mizzou professors to earn the inaugural MU Study Abroad Teaching Excellence Award in 2020.

June 8, 2020

An Educational Experience

For 14 straight years, Robert Sites has led University of Missouri students to Thailand for an educational study abroad experience focused on biodiversity and conservation. The 3-week program, which takes place over winter break, coincides with Thailand’s dry season – the best time of the year to be in the country for biodiversity and conservation projects. When Sites, a professor of entomology in the Division of Plant Sciences, joined the Thailand Study Abroad program in 2001, it was tough for him to imagine the experience turning into what it would eventually become. “I got involved with the CAFNR Thailand study…
Peter Sutovsky was recently named a2019 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Nov. 27, 2019

‘The Pinnacle of My Career’

Growing up in Slovakia, a young Peter Sutovsky would often hold his own science-based lectures in front of his elementary classmates. Those lectures would generally focus on insects, as Sutovsky had a big interest in entomology. “I would bring in my insect collection and explain how the organs of a male beetle were different than the organs of a female beetle,” Sutovsky. “It was a bit precocious – and an early introduction to the birds and the bees. There was definitely a natural curiosity and interest in science from a young age.” Little did Sutovsky know then that his early…
The University of Missouri recently announced that researchers in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources have received an $8.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish a new national research center. The Swine Somatic Cell Genome Editing Center will focus on aiding the development of biomedical treatments for human diseases such as cystic fibrosis.

June 26, 2019

Aiding Disease Treatment

The University of Missouri recently announced that researchers in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources have received an $8.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish a new national research center. The Swine Somatic Cell Genome Editing Center will focus on aiding the development of biomedical treatments for human diseases such as cystic fibrosis. The center will be tasked with creating protocols to evaluate the safety and efficacy of reagents, which are the tools researchers use to edit and repair disease-related genes. In supporting the translation of swine research into treatments for human diseases, the center’s mission…
Michelle Enger was recently named director for the CAFNR Office of Marketing and Communications. Enger has been the marketing communications coordinator in the CAFNR Office of Marketing and Communications since 2011. Enger’s new role as director is effective July 1, 2019.

June 25, 2019

‘Sharing CAFNR’s Message’

Michelle Enger was recently named director for the CAFNR Office of Marketing and Communications. Enger has been the marketing communications coordinator in the same office since 2011. Her new role as director is effective July 1, 2019. “I am confident Michelle will serve CAFNR well in this important role for our College,” said CAFNR Vice Chancellor and Dean Christopher Daubert. “Michelle has spent the majority of her career in communications at land-grant institutions, and she has a deep knowledge of our College, its programs and partners. Michelle is the perfect choice to help share the great stories coming from CAFNR.”…
Robin Rotman has taken a unique path to becoming an assistant professor at the University of Missouri. She joined the School of Natural Resources after 10 years of practicing law; first at the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and more recently in private practice in Washington, D.C. Rotman holds a bachelor’s degree from Sewanee: The University of the South, a master’s degree from the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar, and a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School.

June 14, 2019

Preparing Students for the Workforce

Robin Rotman has taken a unique path to becoming an assistant professor at the University of Missouri. She joined the School of Natural Resources after 10 years of practicing law; first at the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and more recently in private practice in Washington, D.C. Rotman holds a bachelor’s degree from Sewanee: The University of the South, a master’s degree from the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar, and a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School. Throughout her entire career, Rotman has worked on issues related to energy, the environment and natural resources, which continue…
Mary Hendrickson has a teaching and research focus at MU. She teaches undergraduate sustainable agriculture and food system courses, as well as a graduate course in food systems. She has served as a guest lecturer in numerous classrooms as well, from animal science to nutrition to peace studies. She was recently awarded with a 2019-20 Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant, where she will be teaching sustainable agriculture in Iceland.

March 8, 2019

An Icelandic Adventure

Mary Hendrickson and her husband had been itching to do some traveling. Hendrickson had kicked around the idea of applying to become a Fulbright Scholar, or find something in the same vein. An opportunity of that nature would give her the chance to not only travel, but to teach and do research on another continent. Carol Lorenzen, a professor in the Division of Animal Sciences, found just the opportunity. Lorenzen alerted Hendrickson about a Fulbright opening in Iceland. It was a perfect fit. “This is all really Carol’s fault. She saw the posting and sent it right to me,” said…