This past year, each UGA school and college was asked to develop Five-Year Program plans with measurable learning outcomes, resource needs and future budgetary implications. The challenges and opportunities for our academic programs are highlighted in our Five-year Program plans. Among the academic goals set for the next five years include increasing student enrollments by twenty percent, expanding enrollments at our Tifton and Griffin Campuses, increasing diversity in the College, increasing our participation in the University's Honors Program and expanding our student enrichment programs. Achieving these goals will take a concerted effort by the College and will better position our College to meet our larger land-grant mission.

SHERWOOD TESTIFIES BEFORE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE - The United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry (Senator Saxby Chambliss of GA, Chairman) extended an invitation to Dr. John L. Sherwood, Head of Plant Pathology, to speak on biosecurity preparedness and efforts to address agroterrorism threats at a hearing held on July 20th. John spoke as Department Head at the University of Georgia and represented the American Phytopathological Society. Dr. Sherwood was one of eight speakers for the hearing. The first panel of witnesses was the Honorable Charles Conner, Deputy Secretary USDA; Dr. Maureen McCarthy, Director Office of Research and Development DHS; Mr. John Lewis, Deputy Assistant Director, Counterterrorism Division, FBI; Dr. Robert Brackett, Director Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, FDA. On the second panel of witnesses in addition to Dr. Sherwood, was Dr. James Roth, Director for the Center for Food Security and Public Health, Iowa State University, Mr. James Lane, Undersheriff, Ford County, KS; and Mr. Mark Cheviron, Corporate Vice President and Director of Corporate Security and Services, Archers Daniels Midland Co. Other members of the Senate Committee in attendance for the hearing Thad Cochran (MS), Pat Roberts (KS), Craig Thomas (WY), Mark Dayton (MN), and Ken Salazar (CO). Dr. Sherwood's main points were the need to fund competitive research, continue to support the National Plant Diagnostic Network and establish the National Center for Plant Biosecurity.

STATE 4-H CONGRESS - The 63rd Annual State 4-H Congress was held on July 19-22 at the Crowne Plaza Ravinia in Atlanta, Georgia. This premier event for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) brought in hundreds of business, corporate and educational leaders, who joined together to recognize these outstanding young people and the youngest students of our College. A large number of CAES faculty members were on hand to provide leadership for the many projects and to lend their support through judging assistance.

Dr. Mel Garber, Associate Dean for Extension, opened State Congress, and Dr. Joe Broder, Interim Dean, closed the event on Thursday night. We were also honored to have our incoming Dean, Dr. J. Scott Angle, attend the closing banquet on Thursday evening.

The Friend of 4-H Award was presented to Mr. Paul Wood, President and CEO of Georgia EMC and a longtime supporter of both CAES and Georgia 4-H. Jule-Lynne Macie, Rockdale County Extension Agent, received the Bill Booth Agent Award. According to Dr. Bo Ryles, State 4-H Leader, "This was one of the most successful years in the history of Georgia 4-H State Congress, and we appreciate the tremendous support of the College and the business community of Georgia."

AG ALUMNI EVENT - Over 85 CAES faculty, alumni, and friends gathered to enjoy food and fellowship on Thursday evening, July 28, at the Georgia Mountain Research Center in Blairsville. The event, hosted by the CAES Alumni Association and the Georgia Mountain Research Center, provided an excellent opportunity for CAES faculty to display exhibits featuring some of their latest research. Dr. J. Scott Angle, our incoming Dean, attended and offered his outlook on the College and emphasized the important role that alumni, faculty, stakeholders, and our research centers throughout the state play in promoting the College's teaching, research and extension programs. Dr. Jerry Akin, Assistant Dean-Griffin Campus, offered comments to the group regarding the importance of the Center and recognized several representatives of the Community Council which raised over $175,000 in the community to support the Mountain Research Center. Dr. Joe Broder, Interim Dean, provided an update on the Archway to Excellence Campaign. CAES Alumni Association President Glenn Glover presided over the event and recognized the CAES Alumni Association board members and volunteers--Cecil Spooner (Alumni Events Committee Chair); Mary Ann Parsons (Alumni Relations Committee Chair); Mark Esoda (Alumni Relations Committee Vice-Chair); Blane Marable (Awards Committee Member); Megan Morris (Student Recruitment and Affairs Committee Chair); and Curly Cook (Past President).

The Mountain Research and Education Center, located on 415 acres and established in 1930, is the oldest branch experiment station in Georgia. Various research projects and demonstrations are available at the station including research on beef cattle, field and forage crops, fruits, vegetables, turfgrasses and ornamentals, and evaluations of crop genetic material for winter hardiness. Mr. Joe Garner is superintendent of the Center.

Thanks also to the CAES Office of College Advancement for their efforts in organizing an outstanding alumni event.

EXTENSION - An outcome of the Delivering Excellence for Extension discussions was the decision to work in concert with the Georgia 4-H Foundation and hire someone to lead our efforts in grant development. Our agreement was to co-fund a position with the 4-H Foundation. Ms. Lauren Ledbetter began work on July 1, 2005. She will be responsible for developing grants for Georgia 4-H and assisting county extension offices with grant development in all program areas. She can be reached through the central 4-H phone number at 706-542-4H4H.

TIFTON CAMPUS - This summer eighteen teachers from Ben Hill, Berrien, Colquitt, Dougherty, Lanier, Lee, Lowndes, Rockdale, Sumter, Tift, and Worth Counties along with Thomasville City participated in the Georgia Internship for Teachers (GIFT) Program. The GIFT Program is a partnership between Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia that was started in 1990 at Georgia Tech. in 2002. The University of Georgia Tifton Campus began participating in the four-week program that pairs teachers with scientists. This years mentor scientists included Dr. Tom Adams, Mr. Erin Macheski-Preston, Mr. Sam Utley, Dr. George Vellidis, Dr. Jim Dutcher, Dr. John Ruberson, Ms. Melissa Martin, Ms. Susan Crow, Dr. Peggy Ozias-Akins, Ms. Amy Carter, and Mr. Steve Mullis. These scientists provided the teachers with real world experiences that the teachers will modify to make science and math more interesting in the classroom.

The GIFT program would not be possible without the help of our 2005 sponsors: Flint River Water Policy Center, Georgia's Teacher Quality Higher Education Program, National Science Foundation, The Peanut Foundation, UGA Tifton Campus Entomology Department, and USDA-CSREES. If you would like to participate in next year's GIFT Program please contact Susan Reinhardt at sreinhardt@tifton.uga.edu or 229-386-3050.

The Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication (ALEC) faculty from the Athens and Tifton Campuses conducted a faculty development workshop in Tifton on Monday, July 25. The workshop focused on "Improving Faculty Instruction" at the College level by addressing: how to build an interest approach, characteristics of our students, and how to evaluate student learning. This workshop followed a series of six workshops offered in the spring semester that were funded by PRISM grants; all of which were designed to improve faculty instruction. Just over twenty faculty members from the Tifton Campus were in attendance on Monday and more workshops are planned for the fall semester.

KUDOS - Dr. Louie Boyd has been named a 2005 Fellow of the American Society of Animal Science. This prestigious award is in recognition of his very distinguished service to the animal agriculture industry and the American Society of Animal Science. The award will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Animal Science in Cincinnati on July 25.

Sara Gremillion (plant pathology) placed second in the Graduate Student Competition at the recent meeting of the American Peanut Research and Education Society. The title of her paper was "Durability of Leaf Spot Resistance in Advanced Peanut Breeding Lines in North and South America." Other authors included Drs. A.K. Culbreath, J.W. Todd, D.W. Gorbet, and R. Pittman. Dr. Albert Culbreath is her advisor.

Dr. James E. Hook, Professor of Soil and Water Resources in Tifton, received the Phillip R. Karr Award for his significant contribution to water conservation in Georgia. A representative of the Georgia Water Wise Council presented the award at the annual meeting of the Georgia Association for Water Professionals on July 18.

July 29, 2005

Josef M. Broder
Interim Dean and Director