Sustaining the world through science and technology
From 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on Friday, May 11, the Longwood Graduate Program will hold an Electronic Recycling event, collecting unwanted mechanical and broken electronic items for recycling in an effort to reduce the amount of electronic refuse sent to landfills.
For more information on the items that can be recycled at the event, visit this website.
The unseasonable cold did not stop people from making tracks to Ag Day 2012. This year’s event featured a free flight bird show, a beehive demonstration, a tree climbing exhibition, live bands and a special birthday party for the UDairy Creamery, which celebrated the opening of its doors one year ago at Ag Day 2011.
At the birthday celebration, Robin Morgan, dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR), welcomed everybody to Ag Day 2012 and thanked those responsible for organizing the event.
Morgan then focused on the UDairy Creamery birthday celebration, saying, “We broke ground two years ago, last year we cut the ribbon and today we’re going to have a birthday cake.”
Katy O’Connell, communications manager for CANR, spoke next, thanking all those in attendance and taking a moment to recognize Morgan, who will be stepping down as dean and returning to the faculty at the end of this academic year.
O’Connell thanked Morgan for everything that she has done for CANR, saying, “She has just been such a wonderful support for Ag Day and the team. And anytime we’ve had a new idea, she’s supported us wholeheartedly. She’s always here every Ag Day from the minute we open until the last table is taken down. She’s really been great and we wanted to thank her especially at this Ag Day.”
Morgan was then in for a surprise treat as O’Connell handed over the microphone to Melinda Litvinas, UDairy Creamery manager, who informed Morgan that the creamery has created a special flavor in Morgan’s honor.
Litvinas said, “We don’t know if Dean Morgan has noticed this yet, but in honor of her support of the UDairy Creamery in the past years, we’re now selling ‘Robin’s Egg,’ which is vanilla ice cream with chocolate chunks and toffee pieces.” The flavor was inspired by a submission by Mark Barteau, UD senior vice provost for research and strategic initiatives, in the fall Blue Hen Signature Flavor Contest.
Litvinas went on to announce that the creamery will now be making and selling their very own ice cream cakes, which will be available in different sizes in the store, and can be ordered on-line at the creamery website.
The birthday cake, made by Leigh Ann Tona, a management major with an entrepreneurial studies minor who works at the creamery, was then unveiled and Jacob Hunt, a senior in CANR and assistant manager of the UDairy Creamery, led the crowd in singing Happy Birthday.
Article by Adam Thomas
Photos by Danielle Quigley
This article can also be viewed on UDaily
There’s something for almost everyone at Ag Day, this Saturday, April 28, at the University of Delaware. There’ll be pony rides, farm tours, the UD Botanic Gardens plant sale, sheep-shearing demos and free-flight bird shows. And, at one of the most popular attractions, a chance to see an open beehive and learn how to do the “waggle dance.”
Debbie Delaney, a UD assistant professor of entomology and wildlife ecology, is responsible for the Ag Day bee exhibit, which is staffed by her graduate and undergraduate students.
“Visitors do seem to like the bee exhibit,” acknowledges Delaney. “In recent years, I think people have become more aware of the critical role that bees play in pollinating crops – here in North America they’re responsible for pollinating some 90 crops.”
Beyond that, notes Delaney, “bees are fascinating social insects. People want to learn more about them. Take the ‘waggle dance,’ performed by honeybees. With this figure-eight dance, honeybees are able to tell their hive mates where to find patches of flowers, water, new housing locations and more. The direction of the dance demonstrates the angle other bees should fly to find the nectar source. And the speed of the movements indicates the value of the source.”
At Ag Day, waggle dances and open beehive demonstrations (by veiled beekeepers in a cage) get the most attention. But visitors who check out the rest of the exhibit will discover that UD’s bee program is abuzz with activity.
“It’s an exciting time to be a bee researcher at UD,” says Delaney. “We have lots of going on, from the addition of a second apiary to several innovative research projects.”
Delaney is starting the second year of a research study to see if bumblebees improve crop productivity. Before this project, bumblebee research hadn’t been conducted in Delaware since the 1940s. But Delaney and her co-researcher, Gordon Johnson, a Cooperative Extension fruit and vegetable specialist, see potential in bumblebees.
“Over the past decade, managed honeybee populations have been in decline due to colony collapse disorder and other factors,” says Delaney. “In response, growers and researchers have started to pay a lot of attention to native pollinators, and in particular, to bumblebees.”
Delaney also is excited that the University will soon be home to two apiaries — the existing 22-hive teaching apiary and a new research apiary operated in collaboration with Penn State University and supported by the Environmental Protection Agency. Delaney and other researchers will use this apiary to study non-chemical ways to manage parasites in colonies.
The teaching apiary, tucked below mature black locust and tulip poplar trees, is the hands-on classroom for Delaney’s beekeeping class. Her students steward their own hives and learn bee biology and beekeeping skills. Plus, the honey that these students collect can now be purchased. “Dare to Bee Honey” is sold exclusively at the UDairy Creamery. The first batch of the 2012 season should be available for sale in late July or August.
Grad student Katherine Darger doesn’t utilize either UD colony for her bee research. Working closely with Delaney, Darger is testing for Africanization tendencies in unmanaged colonies from Florida to Maine. However, since Darger says she is “happiest when knee-deep in a colony,” she tries to get out to the UD hives as much as she can.
She will be showing off her hive-handling skills at Ag Day, performing several of the caged demonstrations, which take place at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Darger likes Ag Day and other public events almost as much as she likes being in the apiary. “I love doing outreach,” she says. “I hope to inspire more people to become beekeepers, plant gardens to attract and support native insects, and reduce the fear that draws people to insecticide cans.”
Article by Margo McDonough
Photo by Danielle Quigley
This article can also be viewed on UDaily
Three professors and two graduate students from the University of Delaware spent spring break in Brazil, visiting the University Federal de Lavras (UFLA) campus, strengthening the academic and cultural bonds between the two universities and taking in the sites and sounds of the South American nation.
In addition, four UD College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) undergraduate students have been selected for an opportunity to develop international teaching modules in conjunction with professors and students at UFLA and UD, and to visit this University in 2013.
About the UFLA trip
During the spring break trip, the UD delegation spent its time meeting with faculty from UFLA, touring the facilities, teaching classes and taking trips to remote locations ranging from waterfalls to biodiesel factories. They were escorted by Eduardo Alves and Antonia dos Reis Figueira, both professors of plant pathology at UFLA.
Greg Shriver, assistant professor in CANR’s Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, said he found it to be a very informative trip and found that much of the research being conducted by entomologists at UFLA is similar to research under way at UD.
Talking with Jùlio Louzada, the head of UFLA’s applied ecology department, Shriver said, “They actually have a forest fragmentation study going on in and around Lavras, which is a lot like the study we have going on in and around Newark.”
Shriver and Zach Ladin, a CANR doctoral student, were able to visit part of the Cerrado, a vast tropical savannah ecoregion near the UFLA campus where the study is taking place, and said that the two universities hope to collaborate on their studies regarding dung beetles.
Nicole Donofrio, assistant professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, said she was impressed by the campus, noting that “the academic buildings are gorgeous and equipped with an impressive array of new research equipment,” and added that the trip was crucial in providing strong connections between the two universities for the coming years.
“One of the goals was to make more connections and try to find additional links for people to have ‘sandwich students’ here in the next two years,” Donofrio said. Sandwich students refers to a program established between the universities in which UFLA doctoral students spend one year studying at UD that is “sandwiched” between their studies at UFLA.
Donofrio and Emily Alff, a CANR master’s student, taught a class on fungal transformation for the UFLA students. Alff said that being on the UFLA campus was a tremendous experience. “All the research they do is so applied,” she said. “It really makes you think about the bigger picture of research as a whole.” She added that the food and climate were perfect, saying, “Brazil is just a gorgeous country.”
Tom Powers, assistant professor of philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) and director of UD’s Center for Science, Ethics and Public Policy, said he was impressed by a UFLA practice in which they try to “leave nothing behind.”
Powers joined Donofrio and Alff on a visit to UFLA’s model biodiesel and bioethanol plant, located on the campus. “They use the water from the roof and the parking lot to run a lot of the processes,” he said, adding, “They use everything from, or have the potential to use everything from, fish guts to waste from sugar cane and castor beans. So, in terms of using all of these materials for the production of biofuels, it’s really astounding. And then what they don’t make into biodiesel they make into soap and everything else. They’re really trying to find some use for every byproduct in the production process.”
About the Brazil internships
Four CANR student interns have been chosen for an opportunity to conduct research and teach courses at UFLA.
The four interns who have been chosen for the project are:
The internship will run from April 2012 through June 2013, with the interns supervised by UD faculty teams.
Hoban said she is looking forward to getting to travel to Brazil, and “excited about getting to work with a lot of interesting people and learning about a wide variety of research topics.” Hoban said that the internship “appealed to me not only because of the exciting travel opportunity, but also because it seemed like a really interesting way to apply the material that I have been studying in class. The project gives me a different perspective on the subjects that I am interested in learning about. It also opens my mind to the educational aspect of my fields of study.”
Hoban added, “Everyone on the team seems like they have a lot of passion for their research and I cannot wait to work with them.”
The project is led by a faculty team from CANR and CAS and is intended to help build longstanding academic programs and research partnerships with UFLA that will enhance the international nature of curricula in areas of common interest, such as food security, bioenergy animal agriculture and biodiversity.
The project will also aim to stimulate creative thinking in the students who participate about how to develop innovative solutions to complex global agricultural and environmental problems.
There will be a curriculum enhancement portion of the internship, where students will assist faculty on both a part time and eventually a full time basis, and an experiential learning aspect, where the students will travel to Brazil for up to four weeks with UD faculty.
The interns will be responsible for developing a minimum of two teaching modules per course, and the modules will consist of PowerPoint presentations or other innovative learning methods that provide detailed information on the course topics developed by the interns and their faculty advisers.
This new research and teaching project is supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s International Science and Education Program.
Article by Adam Thomas
This article can also be viewed on UDaily
Amanda Fabi has been named the 2012 Delaware Dairy Princess, an honor befitting a student who spends her time working at the UDairy Creamery and milking cows on the University of Delaware’s Newark farm.
Fabi, who majors in pre-veterinary animal bioscience in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences, had to compete against someone very close to home to earn the crown: her sister, Megan. Of vying with her sister for the top prize, Fabi said that there wasn’t so much a sibling rivalry as there was a sibling cooperation. “We were each others support system,” said Fabi. “We helped each other get ready, so it was cool.”
The Felton Delaware native served as the Delaware Dairy Princess alternate last year, and said that the experience helped prepare her as she competed for the Dairy Princess crown. The competition had three categories, with the participants having to do a skit which promoted the dairy industry, followed by an interview and an impromptu question.
Fabi said that she lucked out on the question portion of the competition, as her question was about hormones in milk, a topic she was familiar with having done her freshman research paper on the subject.
As the Delaware Dairy Princess, Fabi was awarded $1,000 to go along with the title and she said that her duties will include going to different events “such as the state fair or to day camps for little kids or elementary schools and basically promoting the dairy industry and explaining to kids exactly where their food comes from when they buy it from the store.”
Fabi said that the summer is a busy time as she has to talk to many 4-H camps and spend lots of time at the Delaware State Fair. There is also Governors Day, where she said she gets to “walk around with the Governor and Miss Delaware and we get our own body guards, it’s pretty cool, you feel important for the day.”
Of her time working at the UDairy Creamery, Fabi said that she loves all the new flavors that the Creamery comes up with, as well as being involved from the start—with the milking of the cows—to the finish, actually getting to sell the ice cream, epitomizing the UDairy slogan “from the cow to the cone.” She says that she is “old fashioned” when it comes to her ice cream flavor selection, with her favorite being butter pecan.
When she is done at UD, Fabi said that she wants to be an animal virologist. “It sounds weird but I like diseases and learning about them and how to prevent them,” said Fabi.
As for studying at UD, Fabi said that she enjoys the “family atmosphere” of her major. “The people within our major are so close and it’s basically like a family,” said Fabi. “We help each other study for exams and for things like organic chemistry, and we can always go to each other and get help with projects and it’s just really nice.”
Article by Adam Thomas
Every spring, Cathy Martin cares for baby animals that wouldn’t have needed help if humans hadn’t “rescued” them, thinking these wild creatures were orphaned or abandoned by their mothers.
“Springtime is baby season for wildlife. If you encounter young animals, take a few minutes to assess the situation. Wild animals rarely abandon their young,” says Martin, president-elect of the Delaware Council of Wildlife Rehabilitators and Educators. In addition to this volunteer position, Martin is a fisheries biologist with the state Division of Fish and Wildlife.
More than 1,500 birds and mammals are brought to wildlife rehabilitators in Delaware each year. Many of these animals are in genuine need of assistance but others would have been better off left alone.
If a baby animal is bleeding or shows other signs of injury, put on gloves and use a towel or dustpan to push the animal into a box. Then call Martin or another local rehabber (see contact info below).
However, if the animal doesn’t appear injured, leave it where you found it. If a bird has fallen from a nest, either put it back in the nest or place it in a cardboard box with a hot water bottle to keep it warm. Give the parent a chance to retrieve it. (It’s a myth that a parent won’t care for a baby animal if it has been touched by humans.)
Whatever you do, don’t stick around to see if mom is coming back, says Kyle McCarthy, a University of Delaware assistant professor of wildlife ecology.
“You may think that you’re well hidden or that you’re far enough away but a mother deer will smell you and a mother rabbit will see you,” says McCarthy. “She views you as a threat and won’t return until you leave.”
Even without the prospect of danger, some animals don’t devote much time to their newborns. In fact, mother rabbits usually only spend about five minutes at their nests each day.
In the world of ecology, rabbits are known as r-strategists. “Rabbits and other r-strategists give birth to lots of young but invest little parental care in these offspring,” says McCarthy.
Mice and other small rodents, insects, fish, some birds and bacteria are all r-strategists. The results of this laissez faire parenting style can be disastrous. “It’s not uncommon for a mouse to give birth to 20 babies in one season and only one survives through the year,” says McCarthy.
But since rabbits and other r-strategists breed like, well, rabbits, another brood of offspring will arrive before long. Rabbits begin giving birth in spring but have additional litters throughout the warm season.
Bears, deer, fox, some birds and humans are K-strategists. Compared to the r-strategists, fewer young are born in each litter. Deer less than one year old often give birth to just a single fawn; older does usually produce twins. Four kits in a litter is typical for the red fox.
K-strategist parents are heavily invested in the care of their young. After the red fox vixen gives birth, she doesn’t leave the den for about two weeks, relying on the male to bring her food. The new kits weigh only about 3.5 ounces, are blind and totally helpless.
The parents bring live mice to the den once the kits are about a month old to help them learn how to hunt. The kits continue to live with their parents into mid-autumn.
Groundhogs, which are native to Delaware, usually have April birthdays. Not that you would know it.
“You aren’t going to notice any baby groundhogs running around until much later in the spring,” says McCarthy. “They aren’t able to leave the burrows and walk for a full month.”
McCarthy has a lot of respect for the volunteer work that Martin and other wildlife rehabbers do and he knows that their success stories are hard-earned.
Mortality rates vary for rescued wild animals raised in captivity but generally aren’t good. Baby rabbits are one of the hardest to raise while fawns have a much better survival rate. McCarthy’s own memories confirm this fact. His father was a bear biologist in Juneau, Alaska, and became the town’s de facto wildlife rehabilitator.
“People brought my Dad sick or abandoned porcupines, deer, squab, raptors and other animals,” recalls McCarthy. “As kids, we were always getting attached to the babies and naming them. One of my favorites, ‘Punky,’ a porcupine, was successfully rehabilitated back to the wild but many other animals died despite Dad’s efforts to save them.”
To locate the volunteer wildlife rehabilitator nearest you, go to this website and click on “contact us.” You also can find info there on how to donate animal products or make a financial contribution to the Delaware Council of Wildlife Rehabilitators and Educators.
Ag Day, April 28
Love baby animals? At Ag Day you can see both juvenile and adult raptors and lots of baby farm animals, including calves and lambs. This annual, free community event takes place on the grounds of UD’s Townsend Hall in Newark. For more information, call 831-2508 or go to the Ag Day website.
Article by Margo McDonough
This article can also be viewed on UDaily
Ag Day is an annual tradition held by the University of Delaware’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. This year, on April 28th from 10 am to 4 pm, people will be visiting from all over the area to experience agriculture and the natural world through hands on education exhibitors, live demonstrations, as well as great food and music. Oh, and let’s not forget about that amazing ice cream from the UDairy Creamery!
Ag Day is an amazing experience, but with a crowd of over 5000 people, Ag Day would not be able to operate without the help of volunteers. Volunteers will work for periods of 2 hours and 10 minutes over the course of the day (from 8 am to roughly 6pm). This is a great way to earn some of those community service hours you may need! Plus, all volunteers receive a FREE colorful volunteer t-shirt, and when your shift is over, we encourage you to go explore the rest of Ag Day! There is also shift on Friday, April 27th from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm to help with set up. An important note: those who sign up for the cleanup shift on Saturday from 4 pm to about 6 pm will also receive FREE pizza!
Please remember, Ag Day is not successful without the help of volunteers! It’s you that makes Ag Day so special, so come make your mark on April 28th! If you are interested in helping out, please contact the Ag Day team at agday.volunteers.2012@gmail.com with any time conflicts, and we will sign you up for a shift. If you are an Ag Ambassador please let us know!
Thank you,
The Ag Day Team
Put aside the sour cream and onion chips. Abandon those messy, orange cheese curls. Toss away the nachos topped with gloppy processed cheese. Make way for Delaware’s hottest new snack food – baked kale chips.
If the Delaware Urban Farm Coalition has its way, every Delawarean will soon be munching on this snack sensation. “Kale chips have the crunch and flavor that people love but, unlike most snacks, they’re nutritious, too. Kale is rich in vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants,” says Carrie Murphy, a University of Delaware Cooperative Extensive horticulture agent and the interim chair of the Delaware Urban Farm Coalition.
“The Urban Farm Coalition wants to generate excitement about growing local foods and eating local foods. Coalition member Tara Tracy hit on the idea of creating a buzz about kale chips,” says Murphy.
“When we posted a kale chip recipe on the coalition’s Facebook page, we had positive feedback from everyone from mom bloggers to health specialists. The recipe has caught everyone’s attention,” she says.
Kale chips are easy to make (see recipe below) and kale – which is related to cauliflower and broccoli – is easy to grow. Plus, kale is readily available in most Delaware supermarkets and, later in the season, at farmers markets and farm stands.
However, for many residents of Wilmington, it’s not easy to obtain kale and other fresh produce. Large swaths of the city have been termed “food deserts” by the U.S. Department of Agriculture because they lack convenient access to a supermarket and limited or no opportunities for residents to grow their own food.
The Delaware Urban Farm Coalition is doing a lot to change that. Since its inception in 2008, the coalition has worked to expand community gardens and on other ways to improve access to healthy foods in the city. In addition, it helps to teach local residents about healthy eating (including how to make kale chips) through programs run by coalition members such as the Food Bank of Delaware.
The coalition is made up of almost a dozen organizations. Key partners are UD Cooperative Extension, Delaware Center for Horticulture and Delaware Department of Agriculture. The coalition’s presence can be felt in dozens of neighborhoods, from a nascent garden in Edgemoor to the thriving “West Side Grows” garden in the Cool Springs area of the city. But the cornerstone of the coalition’s efforts is the 12th and Brandywine Urban Farm, which had its first harvest in 2010.
“What makes the urban farm different from a community garden is its focus on production agriculture,” explains Tracy, who is urban agriculture manager for the Delaware Center for Horticulture. “Our 1,600-square-foot urban farm grows fruits and vegetables – including kale – that are sold at an on-site farmer’s market. In addition, we operate a 1,200-squre-foot community garden at this site, where residents can rent plots for a small fee. And, yes, we do grow kale in the urban farm and sell it at the farmers market.”
Delaware Center for Horticulture staffers and volunteers do the bulk of the planting, tending and harvesting at the urban farm. But a farm apprentice will be hired soon to assist with farm chores and engage more community members in the project.
Tracy is quick to note that East Side residents don’t need to pull weeds to help out. “A working mother who is too busy to volunteer is still helping the farm – and her family – when she purchases produce at our weekly farmer’s market,” she says.
The Delaware Urban Farm Coalition is now growing beyond its city of Wilmington roots.
“I’ve had phone calls from individuals and organizations throughout Delaware who want to get involved,” says Murphy. “The coalition has really become a statewide effort.”
If you want to learn more about the Delaware Urban Farm Coalition, contact Murphy at cjmurphy@udel.edu or Tracy at ttracy@thedch.org.
If you want to buy kale and other produce from the coalition’s farmer’s market, its opening day is May 7. Located at 12th and Brandywine streets, the market is open every Monday in season from 4-7 p.m.
If you want to grow kale yourself, now’s the time to plant this cool-season crop, says Murphy. Seedlings are available at garden stores throughout the state. Plant now and you’ll have fresh kale by early June.
And if you want to make your own kale chips, here’s what to do:
BAKED KALE CHIPS
1 bunch kale (4-5 cups)
1 TBS olive oil (olive oil spray works especially well)
1 TSP sea salt or seasoned salt
1 TSP vinegar
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a non-insulated cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. With a knife or kitchen shears, carefully remove the leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale pieces with a salad spinner. Drizzle chips with olive oil or spray with olive oil. Sprinkle with vinegar and seasonings.
3. Bake until the edges are brown, anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes. Gently stir leaves halfway through baking.
Try different seasoning combinations, suggest Murphy and Tracy. Teens may prefer a spiced-up version; cheese lovers may want to sprinkle parmesan cheese on top before baking.
Article by Margo McDonough
This article can also be viewed on UDaily
Three finalists in the national search for a new dean of the University of Delaware’s College of Agricultural and Natural Resources (CANR) will visit Delaware in April, meeting with groups throughout the state.
Finalists are Edward Ashworth, dean of natural sciences, forestry and agriculture at the University of Maine; Cameron Hackney, special assistant to the provost at West Virginia University; and Mark Rieger, associate dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Florida.
Given the college’s impact throughout the state and the Delmarva peninsula, the candidates will meet with groups in Newark, Dover and Georgetown during their two-day visits. Each candidate will present his vision for the college, followed by Q&A sessions in Newark and Georgetown.
Visits are scheduled April 17-18 for Ashworth, April 23-24 for Rieger and April 25-26 for Hackney.
Current CANR Dean Robin Morgan announced her plans last September to step down at the end of the current academic year, when she will have completed her second five-year term as dean. She will return to the college’s faculty.
Edward Ashworth
Ashworth has served as dean of the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture and director of the Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station at the University of Maine since 2006. Previously, he served on the faculty of Purdue University for 19 years, the last seven as professor and head of the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. From 1976-87, he was a plant physiologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service. A 1973 graduate of the University of Delaware with a degree with distinction in plant science, he earned his master’s degree in field crop science from Cornell University in 1977 and his Ph.D. in botany and plant physiology from the University of Maryland in 1979.
Cameron Hackney
Since July, Hackney has been special assistant to the provost at West Virginia University, after serving as dean of that university’s Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design and director of the West Virginia Experiment Station for 11 years. From 1985-2000, he was on the food science and technology faculty at Virginia Tech, and he served on the food science faculty at Louisiana State University from 1980-85. He earned his bachelor’s degree in animal science in 1973 and his master’s degree in environmental (agricultural) microbiology in 1975, both from West Virginia University, and his Ph.D. in food science, with emphasis on food microbiology and food safety, from North Carolina State University in 1980.
Mark Rieger
Since 2006, Rieger has served as associate dean and professor in the University of Florida’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, with responsibility for graduate programs, distance education, statewide degree completion programs, college honors program and international education, study abroad. He was interim dean of the college for 2010-11. From 1987-2006, he was on the horticulture faculty of the University of Georgia, serving as a full professor his last seven years there. He received his bachelor’s degree in horticulture magna cum laude from Pennsylvania State University in 1982, his master’s degree in horticulture from the University of Georgia in 1984 and his Ph.D. in horticultural sciences from the University of Florida in 1987.
Additional biographical information about each candidate is available on the official CANR dean search website.
Search Committee
The search committee is chaired by Charles G. Riordan, UD vice provost for graduate and professional education. Committee members are Mohsen Badiey, deputy dean of the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment and professor of marine science and policy; Kelebogile Setiloane, associate professor of behavioral health and nutrition; Blake Meyers, Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor and chair of the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences; Calvin Keeler, professor of animal and food sciences; Joshua Duke, professor of food and resource economics; Judy Hough-Goldstein, professor of entomology and wildlife ecology; James Glancey, associate professor of bioresources engineering; Pam Green, Crawford H. Greenewalt Chair of Plant and Soil Sciences; Susan Garey, Cooperative Extension agent; Carissa Wickens, assistant professor of animal and food sciences; Mark Isaacs, assistant professor of plant and soil sciences; and James C. Borel, DuPont executive vice president and a member of the UD Board of Trustees.
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
UD’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources has approximately 700 undergraduate students, 160 graduate students and 80 faculty members in four academic departments: Animal and Food Sciences, Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, Food and Resource Economics, and Plant and Soil Sciences. Bachelor’s and master’s degrees are offered in all departments, and Ph.D. degrees are offered in Animal and Food Sciences, Entomology and Wildlife Ecology and Plant and Soil Sciences. Current extramural funding for research is approximately $34 million annually, with more than 40 percent coming from federal grants and contracts. Extension programming is focused in agriculture, natural resources, horticulture, community and economic development, family and consumer sciences, food and nutrition and 4-H/youth development.
This article can also be viewed on UDaily
A number of University of Delaware students spent their St. Patrick’s Day learning about potential career paths from environmental professionals at the 2012 Environmental Career Morning event hosted by the Department of Food and Resource Economics in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR).
Panelists included representatives from federal and state government, an analyst from a consulting firm and a coordinator from the non-profit sector.
After a welcome from Steve Hastings, professor in the department, the four professionals engaged in a panel discussion, answering questions from Hastings, who served as the panel moderator, and from the students in attendance. The panel was followed by a mingling session during which the students got to meet the professionals in a one-on-one setting.
Kate Miller, a senior environmental studies major in the College of Arts and Sciences and an Honors Program student, attended the event and said that the panelists offered great advice to the students. “I feel like a lot of the advice students receive about the job market is either very sugar coated or downright depressing,” she said, “so it was refreshing to have professionals share their experiences in a way that made you feel like even though finding the job you want can be difficult at times, it can certainly be done.”
Miller, who plans to pursue a master’s degree in water science and policy at UD and hopes to eventually work in watershed policy for either the government or a non-profit agency, added that the panelists presented great tips about the hiring process and provided helpful insight into resumes and interview skills.
Erika Farris, a UD alumna and an environmental scientist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water, was one of the panelists, and offered up some advice to current students seeking a career in the environmental field, saying that it is important to obtain as much experience as possible and to pursue an advanced degree. She also stressed the importance of remaining open minded when looking for a career. “Even if something does not fit perfectly with your interests,” she said, “you can probably learn something from the experience, and may even discover new interests or skills.”
Farris — who graduated from UD with a bachelor’s degree in 2007 and a master’s degree in 2009, and who had Hastings as an undergraduate adviser — said that she had wanted to be a part of a career day because she can remember what it was like being a student and looking for a job. “I remember being in their shoes, not that long ago, and being uncertain about what opportunities existed with that major,” she said.
Besides reaching out to the students and providing them career advice, Farris also said that she wanted to take part in Career Morning because she was “interested in hearing about the career interests of current students, and learning about what career paths other alumni have taken.”
Jennifer Walls, the principal planner for the planning section of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), also sat on the panel. She explained that it is important for students entering the work force to “be flexible and open to job opportunities outside of your major.” She encouraged students to “think outside of the box when looking for jobs, and take part in as many internships as you can as an undergraduate or graduate student. If you can’t find an internship, then volunteer locally.”
Melissa Luxemberg, a senior in CANR and an Honors Program student, said that with graduation approaching, she is trying to keep all doors open as to what she can do for a future career, so she enjoyed being able to speak with professionals from the environmental field. “It was great to pick their brains about the opportunities they think are most promising for someone with my major and degree.”
Panelists included:
Article by Adam Thomas
This article can also be viewed on UDaily
