Dean Dan Bernardo's Blog
September 17, 2008
 |
Strategic Rockin'
The kick-off of the new academic year has been spurred by two signature events which serve to demonstrate two important strategic initiatives of the college. Read more »
August 15, 2008
AMDT Transforms Itself for a Bright Future
Advancements in CAHNRS are not limited to agriculture. Over the past two years, a renaissance has been taking place in one of our human sciences departments – the Department of Apparels, Merchandising, Design and Textiles. Known mainly for its high-enrollment undergraduate program, AMDT is in the midst of a transformation which will make significant contributions in a variety of areas. Two years ago, the department was being led by its third straight interim chair, had an undersized faculty that was overwhelmed by its huge undergraduate enrollment, was housed in abysmal conditions in a former dormitory, and held its studio sections in a decrepit, abandoned engineering laboratory. Read more »
July 21, 2008
North to Alaska
Following a meeting in Fairbanks, Pam and I travelled to Anchorage, Alaska to meet with Cougar alumni and give them an update on the College. The alumni event was hosted by Leo and Jeanne Bustad. Leo is the son of Leo K. Bustad, dean emeritus of the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine.
I talked about goings on within WSU and CAHNRS, and more specifically, plans for a wildlife center and the arboretum. Our alumni are very excited about all of the developments at WSU, and in particular, the new energy President Floyd has brought to the campus.
Although my update was received with interest, the highlight of the meeting was a talk by Larry Van Daele. Larry is a wildlife biologist with Alaska Fish and Game. You may have seen him in Werner Herzog’s film, Grizzly Man, about Timothy Treadwell, or in the made-for-TV movie, The Harriman Alaska Expedition Retraced. Read more »
June 10, 2008
A2P2 20% Course Reduction
As you know, two of the Provost's university-wide decisions appearing in the Academic Affairs Program Prioritization (A2P2) report focused on reducing the number of courses and academic programs offered at WSU. Specifically, the Provost's recommendations were as follows: Read more »
June 9, 2008
Academic Affairs Program Prioritization Process Update
Washington State University, as other distinctive, land grant, research institutions of higher education in this country, has a mission of instruction, scholarship and research, and service. The vision for WSU directs the institution to achieve excellence and pre-eminence in a selected number of areas of scholarship and research while delivering world-class graduate and undergraduate degree programs and making significant contributions to the economic vitality of the State of Washington and beyond.
Read more »
April 4, 2008
WSU Showcase Awards
All their hard work paid off when CAHNRS faculty received awards at the 2008 WSU Showcase. Steve Jones, professor and scientist in the department of crop and soil sciences earned an award for a new patent; Kathy A. Beerman, professor in food science and human nutrition, earned the Sahlin Faculty Excellence Award for Instruction; Kenneth A. Struckmeyer, associate professor in horticulture and landscape architecture, earned the Sahlin Faculty Excellence for Leadership; and Walter Butcher, professor emeritus for the school of economic sciences earned the Emeritus Society Excellence award. Congrats and keep up the good work!
In other award news, CAHNRS and WSU Extension Marketing and News Services won three awards from the Association for Communication Excellence. ACE is an international professional organization with a focus on agricultural communications. Graphic designer Gerald Steffen won a Bronze Award for his 4-H logo design. Brian Clark won a Silver Award for his editorship of our weekly electronic newsletter, On Solid Ground (onsolidground.wsu.edu). Kathy Barnard and Brian Clark won a Gold Award for writing “Expect Perfect Pairings,” a marketing brochure for our viticulture and enology program. Congratulations to all!
Nov. 26, 2007
CAHNRS Makes Top 10 (Again)
As many of you may have heard, we recently received some great news about the scholarly productivity of several agricultural programs at WSU. Academic Analytics conducted a comprehensive assessment of scholarly productivity for 375 universities nationwide who offer the PhD degree. These ranking were published in a recent issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. Rather than using a single metric (e.g., citations) for a single year, their ranking system employs several measures of research productivity over multiple years. The ranking incorporates refereed articles, citations, federal extramural funds, and major national awards. Read more »
August 31, 2007
On the Road with President Floyd
Writing from the road in south-central Washington, Dean Bernardo observes that "President Floyd is a true 'road warrior.' Wherever he goes, Dr. Floyd is welcomed with unbridled enthusiasm and a true appreciation for his message." Several key issues have emerged: "Over the last two years, we have allocated a great deal of effort telling our story to, and developing stronger connections with ag stakeholders. It is clear that we need to do a better job telling our story to the public at large." Read more »
July 30, 2007
Infusions Bring Operating Resources to CAHNRS Faculty
Today, CAHNRS will release the request for proposals for a $1 million internal grants program focusing on emerging issues in the state’s food and agriculture sector. This program, known as “Emerging Research Issues for Washington Agriculture,” represents a large share of the new funds allocated by the Legislature as part of the Industry-Based Unified Agriculture Initiative. As we have determined allocation priorities from the partially funded Initiative, we have sought to insure that we maintain those parts of the Initiative that place flexible operating funds in the hands of our faculty. This priority is strongly supported by the state’s food and agriculture industry. When I conducted 50-plus meetings with industry groups in preparing the Initiative, one consistent theme was that we have good faculty, they just don’t have enough resources to work with. This has become known as the “hay and horses” argument; that is, we have great horses (i.e., faculty), they just need more hay (i.e., operating resources) to make them run faster (i.e., become more productive). Read more »
June 18, 2007
Ag Kitchen Cabinet
The 14 members of the Cabinet will provide support and advice to the College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences (CAHNRS) and Washington State University Extension on matters related to food and agriculture research and education programs. First and foremost, the Cabinet will be meeting to provide industry input on the priorities for use of the $6 million of funding provided by the Unified Industry-Based Ag Initiative. Read more »
June 4, 2007
Growing Greenhouses and Gardens
The horticulture teaching greenhouses between Lighty Student Services and Ensminger Pavilion are just about gone. Work crews have removed all but the foundation of these relics. A couple of times in recent weeks, I have had conversations with faculty who were troubled by this event, stating that we were removing a symbol of agricultural programs at WSU. Read more »
May 14, 2007
The 2007 Legislative Sessions and Its Impact on CAHNRS
With the wrap-up of the 2007 legislative session, the WSU administration is busy digging through the legislation to assess what this means for the university over the next two years. Overall, this was the best budget WSU has experienced in many years, most notably due to the governor’s unwavering focus on education. Read more »
March 19, 2007
CAHNRS Shines at 2007 "World Class. Face to Face. Showcase"
Once again, CAHNRS will be well represented among those recognized and celebrated in Showcase events throughout the day, including award winners, patent holders, and those receiving tenure and promotion. Read more »Feb. 26, 2007
Update on CAHNRS Strategic Planning Activities
For nearly a year, the CAHNRS Administration (deans, associate deans, chairs, and directors) have been involved in an exercise to “refresh” the college’s strategic plan. CAHNRS’s current strategic plan was developed in 2001-02 and officially launched in May 2002. Numerous fiscal and organizational changes have occurred since that time, not the least of which include the separation of WSU Extension from CAHNRS and a college name change. In addition, a substantial turnover of administrators has occurred, with few college- or department-level administrators remaining who were involved in the 2002 plan’s development. These changes have significantly altered both the context and organizational elements of the strategic plan. Read more »Feb. 20, 2007
Identification of Areas of Preeminence: A Critical Activity for WSU, CAHNRS, and Departments
Over the past six months the university leadership has been engaged in an activity to identify WSU’s current “peaks” or “areas of preeminence.” You will be likely hearing more about this activity in the months to come. From this activity the following definition was developed:Areas of preeminence are distinctive thematic, multi-disciplinary areas of preeminence that build on a strong foundation of excellence and/or have extraordinary potential to raise the university’s reputation for transformative societal impact and scholarly prominence at international and national levels. Read more »
Feb. 5, 2007
An Update on WSU’s Industry-Based Unified Agriculture Initiative
Washington’s $29 billion food and agriculture industry contributes 13 percent to the state’s economy, and employs more than 170,000 people in every corner of the state, making it Washington’s No. 1 employer. More than 250 commodities are produced commercially in the state, making Washington’s agricultural economy the second most diverse in the nation. Despite its expansive and highly diverse agricultural sector, Washington is 28th in the nation in state appropriations for agricultural research and extension. In addition, despite aggressive reallocation of existing resources, critical gaps remain in research and education activities. Read more »
About this Blog
Rather than adopting the rather mundane approach of having the static and typically uninformative administrator’s page, I am attempting to join the 21st century and maintain my own blog. I hope to use this medium as another means of keeping the lines of communication open to our employees and the stakeholders of our college. I hope that you will find the posts timely and informative.
About Dan Bernardo
Dan Bernardo joined Washington State University as dean of the College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resources Sciences (CAHNRS) in August 2005. Prior to moving to Washington State, Dan was professor and department head of the Department of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University from 1995 through 2005. Prior to his service at KSU, Dan Bernardo was on the Agricultural Economics faculty at Oklahoma State University for a decade. Dr. Bernardo has published over 200 papers on various agricultural economics topics, including production economics, natural resource policy, and farm management economics. He has a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Washington State University and a B.S. in Agricultural and Managerial Economics from the University of California, Davis.
Heading using the h3tag
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.