CAHNRS News – February 20, 2009

New on Dean Bernardo’s Blog

The “Future of Farming” report from the Washington State Department of Agriculture is out. Dean Bernardo served on the steering committee that garnered input for the report, “an interesting project which involved much ‘give and take’ among all of the parties involved.” Read the Dean’s take on the Future of Farming on his blog: https://sharepoint.cahnrs.wsu.edu/dan-blog/archive/2009/02/16/the-future-of-farming-in-washington.aspx.
Dan Bernardo has also been posting updates on the WSU CAHNRS budget situation on his blog: https://sharepoint.cahnrs.wsu.edu/dan-blog/default.aspx. He welcomes your comments. In his latest posting, the fourth in an ongoing series on the budget, he writes in part, “Our best defense against budget reductions is to expand our funding base through extramural grants, contracts, gifts, and other non-governmental sources. Faculty and staff continue to make progress in this area, and we should continue to channel our energies in this direction.”

All Extension Symposium

Washington State University Extension is offering you an opportunity to expose your students to some of the most compelling thinkers in the country regarding some of the thorniest issues facing the planet – food safety and supply, equitable access to health care, energy security, resilient youth and families, and sustainable agriculture. WSU Extension’s one-day, statewide symposium,Relentless Pursuit of a Healthier World,” presented on Wednesday, March 11, is a perfect way to integrate and highlight these issues in your curriculum.

The symposium will be delivered via distance technology to seven different sites around the state, including WSU Pullman and the branch campuses at Spokane, Tri Cities and Vancouver. Each site will be hosted by a WSU Extension educator and offers an opportunity to listen to the presentations as well as ask questions of each speaker and participate in local discussions.

Cheryl Scott, senior advisor to the president of global health for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will kick off the day at 9:30 a.m. with her presentation entitled, “Acting Locally and Globally – Pursuing Equity in Health.”

David Brewster, publisher of Crosscut.com and founder of Seattle Weekly, will share his thoughts on how people choose information and make decisions based on that information today and in the future. His presentation begins at 10:45 a.m. and runs until noon.

Paul Roberts, author of the now-renowned “The End of Oil,” will discuss his latest work “The End of Food,” a thought-provoking look at global food issues, beginning at 1:30 p.m.

Registration and check in will begin at 7:30 a.m., March 11, at the following campus sites:

  • WSU Pullman – Compton Union Building Auditorium
  • WSU Spokane – Nursing Building Room 005
  • WSU Tri Cities – CIC 120
  • WSU Vancouver – Firstenburg Student Commons

The program starts at 9 a.m., but you, your students and other guests are welcome to attend any or all of the presentations. Students can register free of charge on line to ensure that they have a seat; lunch is available at each site, if they are interested in purchasing that piece. They also can walk in to any of the sessions without registering as long as there is room.

More information and online registration is available at http://ext.wsu.edu/aec.

Student Internship Offers Summer in France to Focus on Agriculture

France is synonymous with fine food and wine around the globe. A summer internship offered by the Washington State University College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences gives students an opportunity to study French and European agriculture and work on a family-run vineyard or farm in the French countryside.

In partnership with Ecole d’Ingenieurs de PURPAN, CAHNRS is offering six credits for the summer internship and a $1,500 scholarship to help offset expenses for students who participate. More information is available by contacting CAHNRS Associate Dean Kim Kidwell. Deadline for applying is Friday, Feb. 20.

All of the internship coursework – including European culture and agriculture, European animal production, crop production, food processing and viticulture and enology – is delivered in English.

Student interns are placed to work in a variety of agricultural operations that focus on animal production, agro-tourism or plant production and in vineyards or wineries. They live with a French family for full immersion in the French lifestyle.

Ecole d’Ingenieurs de PURPAN delivers educational programs in life sciences, agriculture, agro-food marketing and management. It is located in Toulouse, a city of approximately 300,000 in southwestern France.

Block and Bridle Club Ham Sale

The Block and Bridle Club is taking orders for old fashioned hand-cured and smoked hams. Club members will be curing and smoking the hams at the WSU Meats Lab for a fund-raising activity. Half hams will be approximately 6-7 lbs and cost $25. Whole hams will be approximately 14-16 lbs and cost $45. Hams will be delivered during the weekend of March 12. Orders need to be in by Feb. 22, 2009. For more information please email mwsubnb@gmail.com.

Mentoring Your Non-native English Speaking Graduate Student

Feb. 24, 2009 / 2-3:30pm / Bundy Reading Room

As researchers, writers, and TAs, graduate students who use English as a Second Language (ESL) often require different kinds of support from domestic students in becoming full members of their academic discipline. During this workshop, we share strategies for helping your ESL graduate students cope with the challenges of post-graduate work and preparing them for success in the profession. Ample time for discussion will be provided in order to allow you an opportunity to discuss your specific concerns, as well as to share strategies that have been successful for you. This course is featured among the many Global Resource, Education and Training (http://www.hrs.wsu.edu/GREAT) opportunities at WSU. The target audience: is WSU faculty. Workshop facilitators are Nancy Bell and Ashley Ater Kranov.

It’s important to pre-enroll. There are two ways to do this: Follow the instructions below or email Ashley Ater Kranov at kranova@wsu.edu.

  1. Follow this link to access the course description page: http://www.hrs.wsu.edu/skillsoft/viewclass.aspx?c=ilt_wsu_EQD_635;
  2. Click the ‘Sessions’ link at the top of course description page;
  3. Scroll to the bottom of the next page and click Session Number 1279;
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the next page and click Enroll Me.

Kudos

Virginia Lohr (Horticulture and Landscape Architecture) has been appointed to the Technical Advisory Committee for the Evergreen Communities Inventory implementation project. The committee provides advisory guidance to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources on the criteria and implementation plan for a statewide community and urban forest inventory and assessment.

Dr. Tim Murray, professor of plant pathology, joined the editorial board of the European Journal of Plant Pathology as an associate editor.

Dr. Ken Eastwell, associate professor of plant pathology at IAREC, Prosser, was elected chair of the National Tree Fruit Clean Plant Network. He was also selected to represent the Pacific Northwest at the Western Section of the National Grape Clean Plant Network. The success of the program led by Dr. Eastwell was further recognized when the IAREC, Prosser was chosen as the headquarters for the National Tree Fruit Clean Plant Network. The National Clean Plant Network represents a new way of improving the health of perennial specialty crops that are vegetatively propagated.

Mike Derie, scientific assistant with Dr. Lindsey du Toit, associate professor of plant pathology in NWREC, Mt. Vernon, is winner of the CAHNRS Academic and Professional Excellence Award for 2009. Mike will be recognized at the annual CAHNRS Awards Banquet in Pullman April 4.

Dan Villamor, Ph.D. student with Dr. Ken Eastwell, associate professor of plant pathology in IAREC, Prosser, won second prize in the student poster competition at the annual meeting and trade show of the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers. His poster reported results of his ongoing research on Grapevine yellow speckle viroid-1 (GYSVd-1) and Rupestris stem pitting-associated virus (RSPaV) in Washington State. The poster was co-authored by Dr. Julie Tarara and Dr. Ken Eastwell.

Olufemi J. Alabi, Ph.D. student with Dr. Naidu Rayapati, assistant professor of plant pathology at IAREC, Prosser, has been selected as an “APS Student Education Fellow” by the American Phytopathological Society’s Committee on the Future of Plant Pathology Education to attend a national summit on “The Future of Education in Plant Pathology and Related Disciplines” to be held March 19-20, 2009, in Washington, D.C. He was invited to participate in the workshop at the national summit and make contributions in shaping the future of plant pathology education.