From the Dean (Fall 2015)

A note from the CANR Dean, November 2015

As we prepare to send this fall edition of the Dean’s newsletter, I am surprised by how quickly the fall has passed yet again this year.

 

You may already know that I am preparing to retire after nearly 25 years at Michigan State University, and a 40-year career in academia. I am looking forward to spending time with family, reconnecting with my hobbies and to passing the torch to the next generation of leaders at the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

 

I am overwhelmed by how inordinately nice people have been. They have thanked me for returning to the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources as dean for a brief stint. For me, though, it’s been absolutely invigorating to return to someplace I love, academia. I feel like the old fire horse that got to answer the bell one more time. I have greatly appreciated this opportunity.

 

Next year will find the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources with a new dean, a new crop of students, faculty members, research and innovation across the globe. We are truly at an exciting time in food, energy and the environment. I can barely remember a time when so many of the issues we research and teach about have been so popular.

 

I am invigorated reading about out students who visited Tokyo for the International Student Summit. Graduate student reflections on World Food Prize are equally as fascinating. Dr. Felicia Wu’s video is inspiring. She has come here specifically to pursue work that’s interdisciplinary – between agriculture and health – and there are few places in the country that can be done as well as MSU. We are pleased to host the USAID biotechnology work that will bring nutritious food to those in Indonesia and Bangladesh.

 

Many of you are working in those same areas – we are grateful for the work you are doing and representing the CANR so well. Our students, whose numbers continue to rise, will be your replacements eventually and our goal is to ensure that we are providing them the best education and preparation possible.

 

I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you to think seriously about nominating a colleague, classmate or friend for one of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Alumni Association and Distinguished Service Awards that are given during ANR Week.

 

Last, I’d like to thank each and every one of you for your support of me, our students, faculty members, administration and our College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

 

Sincerely,

 

Fred L. Poston

Dean, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources

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