Making a Difference: Teaching, Advocacy and Support

Over the last several weeks, I have been reminded many times that it is people who make the difference.

While we all know that to be true, once in a while we should take a step back and reflect on what it really means. I first would like to focus on how our faculty and staff have an impact on teaching and mentoring. In honor of Purdue’s upcoming 150th anniversary in 2019, the university created ten 150th Anniversary Professorships to celebrate those faculty members who have made a lasting impact on teaching. I’m proud to say that two of our faculty members – Dr. Suzanne Nielsen of Food Science and Dr. Chris Oseto of Entomology – were named 150th Anniversary Professors. Just recently, we learned that Dr. Haley Oliver, Food Science, was awarded the 2018 Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award in Memory of Charles B. Murphy, Purdue’s highest undergraduate teaching honor. Dr. Michael Mastare, Agronomy, won the 2018 Exceptional Early Career Award, which recognizes outstanding undergraduate teaching among Purdue's early career, tenure-track faculty. Excellence in teaching is a strong value in our college and it is wonderful to see these faculty scholars win these awards. 

The impact that teachers and advisors have was also evident at our Distinguished Agriculture Alumni celebration this month. Nine distinguished alumni, who represent the top 1/2 of one percent of our alumni and have engaged in a broad range of careers, talked about the significant impact that faculty and staff had on their career choices and even their career trajectories. In their remarks at the awards convocation, they spoke of some of the teachers, mentors and advisors who had a major impact on them: Dr. Frank Dooley, Dr. Gebisa Ejeta, Dr. Joan Fulton, Dr. Peter Goldsbrough, Advisor Leeann Williams. The still-fresh memories that our distinguished alumni have of these and other teachers and mentors go to the value that we as a college place on teaching. So, this month, as faculty and staff teaching and advising activities are nearing the end of the semester, I want to thank faculty and staff for all your work with students. You make an impact.

The impact of our faculty and staff goes well beyond the classroom and can be seen around the state. The relationships that our faculty and staff build and the lives they improve create strong advocates for our college. Some of our advocates are part of the National Council on Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching (CARET) organization whose members advocate for the federal funding that supports capacity and competitive funding for research and Extension. Indiana has three national CARET representatives: Louise Beaman, Rebecca Roach and Ken Huseman. This team, with support from Donya Lester, is a force to be reckoned with as they articulate the importance of the land grant mission and federal funding for agricultural research and Extension to our congressional representatives. We are so proud of the work they do to support Purdue. 

At the state level, the Purdue Council on Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching (PCARET) also advocates for the land grant mission and funding for agricultural research and Extension at both the state and federal levels. With the support of John Baugh, Donya Lester, Jason Henderson and Shawn Donkin, they put a personal touch on the impact that Purdue Agriculture has on individuals and communities across the state. 

It is not an overstatement to say that PCARET’s work on our behalf played a large role in securing funding from the state for the Hobart and Russell Creighton Hall of Animal Science and the Land O’Lakes Inc. Center for Experiential Learning and Purina Pavilion. What a thrill it was to dedicate the new building last week with 450 friends and partners from the agricultural industry there to show the strong support around the state for our efforts in Animal Science. The message was loud and clear – the agriculture industry, the state, friends, donors and alumni are valuable partners of the Purdue College of Agriculture. Our faculty and staff have made a difference, and their impact enabled us to build a new Animal Science complex of which we can all be proud. 

Whether you are a teacher, advisor, mentor, researcher, Extension educator, alum or friend, we have worked together to build something special and it truly makes a difference. Thank you.

All the best,