I spent 10 days enjoying much cooler temperatures than what was felt in College Park and much of the East Coast. I also spent it in remote areas where cell phone signals were spotty and Wi-Fi was a thing of the future. What I discovered is that the summer isn’t as slow as I had anticipated when I booked the time away.
While on leave, I learned that our ENST students, Zie Goodman and Cole Chapman, did very well at the International Soil Judging Competition in China, competing against some of the world's best student soil scientists. Each earned top honors with help and coaching from Dr. Brian Needelman (not present in China), whose leadership and dedication have helped make Maryland's soil judging program one of the nation's best. Zie and Cole’s accomplishments help highlight the strength of the teaching, mentoring, and experiential learning opportunities that define the ENST program. Congratulations to Zie, Cole, Brian, and the entire team!
In addition to catching upon a few projects, this week I am attending leadership training in Chicago. I will arrive at the training with incomplete homework assignments. We are asked to write our story with specific elements of the narrative of which my story is missing a few pieces. In addition, we were asked to estimate how we use our time and how we think we should use our time. That task is complete. Maybe I will get the remainder done before Wednesday.
We are starting finalist interviews for our AI cluster hire. We will have candidates in to interview for positions in multiple departments over the next couple of weeks. I look forward to hearing department and committee feedback about the candidates and spending time with the candidates myself. This is a good opportunity for AGNR to work across the college to advance agriculture and natural resources and be part of a broader campus partnering effort.
We are getting ready for our college's annual strategic planning meeting with the Provost’s team next month. I need to spend some time thinking about our key messages and data to support those messages. The preparation and meeting are a team effort from across the college. I appreciate the time the AGNR team puts into preparation for the meeting, and the time the Provost’s team puts into participating and sharing ideas with us. The meeting last year left me with a sense that we are all working together to deliver for our students and partners.
I may not be caught up on laundry that accrued while away, but the transition back to work mode has been quick. I don’t want to miss out on all of the good things going on across AGNR!
