is the highest priority. Undergraduate majors offered will include: Plant, Soil and Environmental Science with a Soils emphasis or Crops emphasis: and Turf-grass Science. Support and flexibility provided to meet the new instruction re-quirements and laboratory needs for the redesigned curriculum are the primary goals near term. The new curriculum will place additional emphases on glob-al awareness and experiential learning, both of which could require redirection of available funds. We are attempting to ameliorate this impact and offer stu-dents additional opportunities by estab-lishing new ties to private industry and governmental leadership, establishing learning communities as exemplified by the plant breeding brown bag lunches for graduate students and faculty; es-tablishment of an Undergraduate Lead-ership Series; utilization of study abroad classes that are self-sustaining, etc. Extension of these types of community learning will create excitement and ex-panded horizons. We feel that this new curriculum will provide the foundation for meeting the challenges of providing our students with the educational opportuni-ties to keep them competitive in future, local to global, job markets. Our new Turfgrass Science major will be greatly facilitated by our planned educational component at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Facility for Lawn and Garden Research Facility. (continued next page)

Volume V, Issue 5

AGGIE AGENDA

DEPARTMENT OF SOIL AND CROP SCIENCES

Department of Soil & Crop Sciences, TAMU 2474, College Station, Tx 77843-2474, PH. 979-845-3041 Fax: 979-845-0456

In this issue:

June 2011

• Outlook Statement

from the Department Head

• Faculty Advisory Com-mittee

• New Babies

• Deans List

• Fulbright Fellowship

• Future Leaders Se-lected

• Communications Of-fice Information

• Upcoming Events

• ISSAC Information

• Condolences

I have been developing an outlook statement for the Deans and Direc-tors in AgriLife. This should provide a starting point for our strategic plan-ning process, so I am providing it to all for comments and thoughts. I look forward to working with you to develop it more completely and implement it. Our VisionTo be the best at providing the world with sustainable food, feed, fiber and fuel in a safe an aesthetically pleasing environment through discovery, edu-cation and application.Our MissionThe mission of the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences is to prepare students for careers in soil, plant and environmentally related disciplines; to discover new scientific knowledge and develop technologies to sustain environmentally sound and economi-cally profitable production systems; to ensure that extension of techno-logical developments to user clientele and society in general is effective and timely; and to promote the wise use, management, and stewardship of soil, plant, and water resources.Teaching Goals Plans and Critical FactorsComplete implementation of the re-designed program with simultaneous modification of undergraduate majors

Soil

& Crop Sciences

T A M U Thank-you God for the rain!

Outlook Statement (continued)

Page 2 Volume V, Issue 5

Graduate curriculum review will be initiated within the time frame of the undergraduate modifications suc-cessfully moving through the ap-proval process. Our Ph.D. in Soil Sci-ence degree has been recognized for many years as a national leader, providing a backbone of training for NRCS and ARS. Recently, with turnover of high profile programs, our student numbers have been lim-ited. Since, this is largely a financial issue, we will explore the potential for sponsorship of programs to train Ph.D.’s in soil science similar to pro-grams more recently implemented in plant breeding through interaction and support by Monsanto and oth-ers. To this end we will be pursuing potential programs with NRCS and others. Over the next four years we expect to fill a Chair position in International Crop Improvement. We expect that this chair will have major impact on our ability to introduce students to internationalization concepts, with special emphasis on food security issues and feeding the future. We also plan to continue to aggressively improve our participation in study abroad programs by our majors. We will be both looking to develop fund-ing for this as well as developing ap-propriate opportunities in Honduras, Brazil and Australia in the near term, as well as continue our current study abroad opportunities to Brazil, Mexi-co and Australia.While we are interested and commit-ted to every opportunity to increase our number of majors, weighted stu-dent credit hours, and especially our

Ph.D. level graduate students , we recognize that with the loss of senior faculty through six VSP’s, the cur-rent economic situation, and other program transitions that this will re-quire both patience and an eye for additional funding for assistantships. We are optimistic that with our cur-riculum efforts, linkages with major corporations for graduate training and a solid job market, we will ob-tain positive results over the next four years, but expect to be down in graduate numbers for the next two years. This will primarily be due to reduced technical support from AgriLife Research gold plate. It is anticipated that this technical sup-port gap will be a priority for replace-ment with grant dollars and thus less grant dollars will be available for as-sistantships. We also anticipate a more competitive environment at the federal grant level and reduction in dollars through federal initiatives. We have been working for the past two years to reduce the percentage of underperforming undergraduates. The goal is to cut this in half over the next two years. We are employing a multipronged approach includ-ing higher recruitment standards, quicker corrective action with under-performing students, more aggres-sively requiring involvement with “PASS Academic Skills Certificate Program” for probationary students and demanding quicker improve-ment in probationary status. This year we dropped 30% of underper-formers from our program while re-placing them with an incoming class that is both larger and with improved entrance metrics. We will be closely

monitoring our metrics of student performance over the next two years to make sure we are on track. We are planning to expand our dis-tance education offerings as pro-posed to include the development of an M.S. and Ph.D. program in plant breeding. The M.S. portion can include both thesis option and non-thesis option, and we believe that the Ph.D. at a distance can be accomplished but only under lim-ited circumstances such as where an individual candidate is located at a research facility with Gradu-ate Faculty qualified mentors, e.g., at a CGIAR International Center. We believe that this can be a cen-terpiece of our proposed Beachell-Borlaug Center for Plant Breeding. This proposed new degree program has generated considerable inter-est from several international plant breeding companies, including Monsanto, Deltapine, Syngenta, and Bayer Crop Science.The Monsanto Plant Breeding As-sistantship program provided by matching funds from Monsanto has resulted in 12 additional plant breeding graduate students in Soil and Crop Sciences and Horticul-tural Sciences. We have developed a similar but not plant breeding specific proposal for submission to Bayer Crop Sciences, a signifi-cant but small proposal through the Scotts’ agreement, and believe that we will have that opportunity with other companies such as Syngenta.At the undergraduate level, we are committed to increasing the num-ber of undergraduate students par-

(continued next page)

ticipating in internships as experien-tial learning opportunities. We have sought and successfully had rep-resentatives from Monsanto, Dow AgroSciences, Syngenta, and Pio-neer visit with our undergraduates about such internships. We have initiated an internal Plant Breeding Internship where selected students rotate through three of the AgriLife Plant Breeding programs during a single summer. This program is rel-atively small since individual plant breeders provide all of the financial support, but participants have been enthusiastic and complimentary of the program. Research Goals Plans and Criti-cal FactorsDiversification of our research fund-ing pool will continue to be a priority as we strive to deliver answers to critical issues related to environmen-tal quality, food security, sustainable turfgrass and agricultural produc-tion. We will strive to increase the level of funding from corporate part-ners, federal agencies, competitive federal grants, commodity check-off organizations and to work actively to elevate issues important to our clientele to be a part of research support funded by the next farm bill (such as forage research). Priority issues we expect to direct and redirect efforts toward include an increased focus on water qual-ity as impacted by both urban and rural land management, and water quantity as impacted by crops more tolerant of drought and more pro-ductive with limited water supplies. We also expect an increased focus

Outlook Statement (continued)

Volume V, Issue 5Page 3

on application of technology to the advantage of our science. This in-cludes developing better strategies for site specific nutrient; site specific application of pesticides and growth regulators as well as delineating our soil variability and managing it. This work is broadly inter/multi-dis-ciplinary and will require approach-es that are team oriented and less single investigator focused. We have moved rapidly in this direc-tion with efforts in bio-energy, but our success depends heavily on developing even greater success at deploying, engaging and rewarding teams and team leadership. We expect increased research with ur-ban issues from soil, water and turf perspectives as demonstrated by our recent partnership with Scotts. Vesting in the capacity to perform cutting edge research in this area will be essential and will require a commitment both to increasing external funding and gifts but also require institutional commitment. It is expected that bio-energy re-search will go through a consolida-tion phase over the next five years and our preliminary work should leave us in a very competitive posi-tion to be part of the future focus in this area. We expect to continue to be national leaders in basic soils re-search, plant breeding for our ma-jor commodities, crop quality, and agronomic systems. With dynamic funding sources our scientists will have to be more entrepreneurial in their approach to solving society’s problems within the Soil and Crop Sciences Department focus areas.

Identifying and recruiting a chair that can provide world leadership for crop improvement, providing re-quired facilities for success and in-tegrating them into the department team will be essential to continue the legacy of Dr. Norman Borlaug. While we have been on a less ag-gressive approach while state bud-get issues were being debated and legislated, we need to now move forward rapidly. We are developing lab space that has become avail-able by the Soil Testing Lab move to Agronomy Road for the recruitment of a chair position for the Monsanto endowment. The academic em-phasis of the individual selected for this will impact how we prioritize fill-ing other VSP and turnover vacan-cies, further adding impetus to the need to focus on this issue. We feel that the Butler Chair could also play a significant role in Soil and Crop.The primary impact on the strategic plan is a core of faculty that will not exist as of October of 2011. With six VSP program participants and one lecturer RIF and eight faculty retirements/departures at centers, we expect to have roughly 15% fewer faculty than assumed as we start the year. As we get through the initial stages of the cuts, we need to develop a new strategic plan based on a new size. Pro-grams on campus that have been impacted include soil chemistry, soil microbiology, soil morphology, cereal quality, weed science, and ecology/physiology. While provid-ing initial flexibility in meeting the

(continued next page)

cuts both on campus and off, some of these programs lost through re-tirement will need to be prioritized and as additional flexibility occurs we will need to redirect to those pri-orities. One that appears critical is Dr. Rooney’s program which sup-ports the breeding efforts for qual-ity in our grain crops, is critical to graduate training in cereal quality, and has been a key role in our in-ternational activities. We will face a critical mass issue in our ability to offer graduate programs in weed science and will need to think about alternatives to complement Dr. Sen-seman’s work with the retirement of Dr. Chandler. We expect that the losses in soils will be absorbed by a reconfiguration of positions, but with eight of the retirements/depar-tures having a soils focus, it will be critical to look at a strategic plan for making the program competitive going forward. We expect this to occur around themes such as car-bon cycling, biotic interactions with soil, and sustainability and regener-ability. We would tie the forage po-sition to a push to develop improved funding for forage work across the country. New positions that were a part of the strategic plan and not yet filled will continue to be on hold in the short term. We will need to go through a planning process whereby these positions compete with other emerg-ing priorities at this stage. Many of these relate to water extension and urban issues. We have made a significant switch in departmental philosophy on tech-nical support. With the budget re-duction we are reducing technical support by more than 30%. We are

setting a target whereby the unit will not support more than base sal-ary for technical support (currently $30,000) and that individuals will have the flexibility to utilize this sup-port for graduate students or techni-cal assistance. We anticipate that most tenured research faculty will be receiving no more than $15,000 per year over the next five years. It is expected that this will decrease our total number of graduate stu-dents in the short term until these positions are written into successful grants. We currently expect that we will see an estimated $3 million drop in expenditures within the unit during this next fiscal year. This decrease will certainly impact our expansion rate into hot areas such as bio-en-ergy, water, precision ag, genomics and bio-informatics. The impact on our grant funds is expected to be even larger than our state dollar support. This will mean that prior-ity will have to be placed on devel-oping improved moral of those that are carrying the banner forward and to make sure that the cuts are not magnified by an increased loss of motivation and enthusiasm. Admin-istratively we are attempting to pro-vide consideration of how we en-courage these faculty and staff and look at ways to provide them with funds to move to the priority areas rather than cut them further to meet new priorities.

Extension Goals Plans and Critical FactorsThe Extension Soil and Crop Sci-ence unit is facing many changes, some through normal personnel at-trition, as exemplified by the resig-

nation of Drs. Randy Boman and Juerg Blumenthal and others at the result of financial tightening asso-ciated with the reduction in base funding which has negatively im-pacted operating funding, funding of technical and program delivery positions (Program Specialists, 3.78 FTEs) and reduced special-ist FTEs (0.75 FTEs from Feagley and Redmon, who will have now have 0.75 and 0.25 FTE teaching appointments, respectively). An-other continuing need for strategic planning is to develop more effec-tive ways to deliver relevant and timely information to a growing and changing clientele. This is compli-cated by reduced funding for travel and new technologies used by our clientele and agents for obtaining information.The department has historically provided some technical support for key positions to leverage the capacity of specialists under great demand by their respective stake-holder groups. This was discon-tinued with the new goldplate bud-get reality. We do not plan to have departmental support for technical assistance for those working in AgriLife Extension beyond startup support and special situations, such as bridge funding. The recent resignation leaves a key position for the cotton industry, and one of the most highly extramurally funded programs open. An initial round of interviews did not provide a suitable candidate. After discus-sions with key leaders of the cotton industry, Dr. Mark Kelly is serving in that role in Lubbock, but we have yet to achieve a permanent solu-

Outlook Statment (continued)

(continued next page)

Page 4 Volume V, Issue 5

tion this fall. With Dr. Blumenthal’s resignation effective at the end of June, we will have a key vacancy in the feed grains and bioenergy. We plan to make a strategic redirection in Dr. Blumenthal’s position to better align with emerging opportunities in sorghum and cropping systems. It will also be a priority to refill this po-sition or to develop a coverage plan through position consolidation. We are coordinating meetings with key stakeholders in a move to refill that slot.Decreased personnel, reduced travel budgets, and increased de-mands on professional time make it more difficult for extension spe-cialists to respond to the grow-ing number of requests to conduct educational programs or to provide training to county extension agents. The use of internet-based technol-ogy has the potential to allow exten-sion specialists to deliver relevant, science-based information to larger audiences, especially those some distance away without requiring the travel time or expenditure of scarce funds associated with face-to-face meetings. Centra Symposium by Saba is one such technology tool being utilized by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service to replicate the physical classroom experience and deliver programs with good inter-active participation. Soil and Crop Sciences specialists have had good experiences in delivering single county, multi-county, multi-location programming with this technology. To date, these programs have been unqualified successes as gauged by both agricultural producers and county extension agents. Customer satisfaction with the delivery of edu-

cational programs via the internet-based system has been very high, as indicated by post-program sur-vey evaluations. The use of Cen-tra has also provided the vehicle by which extension specialists are currently able to conduct state-wide county extension agent training and provide updates to agents when emerging or crisis issues develop. Centra also provides the oppor-tunity for recording educational or training programs for later viewing by agents or others who were un-able to attend the original event. Existing internet based distance technology formats such as Cen-tra Symposia, Microsoft Lync and other emerging technologies offer new opportunities to provide quality distance learning for clientele and agents. While the use of distance technology will not replace face-to-face educational program delivery, internet-based tools may become the program delivery method of choice for extension specialists in the future. The “smart” cell phone provides producers and other clien-tele with a new avenue to the web and in the field information. We hope to adapt or educational and information providing methods to take greater advantage of this tech-nology as well as other emerging educational technologies. Much of the overall departmental Extension strategic plan dealt with moving to improve impact on water issues. Water issues remain at the top of concerns among Texans. In-creasing population and uncertain-ties related to water availability and water quality are hot button issues which have been exacerbated with frequent and severe droughts. With

the budget reductions, especially combined with federal spending re-ductions we must identify new fund-ing mechanisms to meet this chal-lenge as “new gold plate funding” will not adequately address the urgency of improvement in this area. New po-sitions that were a part of the strate-gic plan and not yet filled will continue to be on hold in the short term. We will need to go through a planning process whereby these positions compete with other emerging priori-ties . Many of these relate to water extension and urban issues. Urban issues continue to present edu-cational opportunities in turf manage-ment and water quantity and quality, but funding has been inadequate to boldly move into this area. With our key agricultural commodities, long identified funding mechanisms have been used to enhance extension pro-gramming. These mechanisms do not exist for turfgrass. Our current turf capacity is inadequate to address the enormous issues associated with amount of our urban areas covered with turf and the impact that turf has on our economy and our water re-sources. We will explore alternative funding mechanisms to have the pos-itive impact in this arena. The Extension group has a long re-cord of impacting the agronomic sys-tems of the state and a key focus will be on maintaining the capacity to continue to have that kind of im-pact by responding to the needs of our clientele With commodity prices high and food security a high prior-ity by not only the U.S. government, but governments world-wide we will have many opportunities to have im-pact as the world searches for ways

Outlook Statment (continued) Outlook Statement (continued)

(continued next page)

Volume V, Issue 5Page 5

page 6

Congratulations Award Winners!

Former Student Update - Emily Hollister

We are on the web! soilcrop.tamu.edu

I’ve accepted a faculty position with Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. It is a joint appointment between the department of Pathol-ogy & Immunology at BCM and the new Microbiome Center at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. In

this new role, I’ll be utilizing my background in molecular microbial ecology and extending it to the study of the microbial communities associated with the human body. The Children’s Microbiome cen-ter is one of the 15 original sites

funded by the National Institutes of Health Human Microbiome Project ( https://commonfund.nih.gov/hmp/ ) and its research seeks to under-stand the links between microbes, disease, and health in pregnant women and children. - Emily

to feed 20 to 30% more people with current or reduced land water and nutrient resources. This will be a part of the overall departmental stra-tegic planning process. Strategic Planning Process It is my feeling that with the many changes that have taken place in the department that we need to de-velop a new strategic plan based on current budget projections. While many of the issues will remain the same and there was nothing wrong with the strategic planning com-pleted two years ago as part of the departmental review, this plan was based largely on continuance of most things and adding new things. We need to relook at our plan with

a greater emphasis on prioritizing new relative to existing, and iden-tification of funding mechanisms beyond our traditional areas. To this event through the leadership of the faculty advisory committee I plan to identify leadership for a strategic planning process that we will initiate over the summer and complete this fall. SummaryWe feel that we have an efficient department with solid grant fund-ing and publications per faculty member. Significant departmen-tal impact is a part of our history and we have a dedicated and tal-ented group of faculty and staff that, with entrepreneurial activity,

Outlook Statement

Faculty Advisory Committee

The 2011-2012 Faculty Advisory Committee consists of:Mark Farland, Scott Finlayson, Terry Gentry, Brent Bean, Steve Hague, Kevin McInnes, and Scott Senseman. Scott Senseman will serve as the chairman.

Special thanks to Tom Hallmark, Larry Redmon, Jim Muir, and Dirk Hays for their service on the FAC for the past two years.

Volume V, Issue 5

will continue to make a big impact on Texas and the world. We fully expect that productivity in terms of numbers of graduate students, total grant dollars and subsequently total publications and other measures of departmental productivity will be down proportionate to our cuts over the biennium budget cycle; however the long term future continues to be bright for our graduates, and our re-search and extension programs.

page 7

Congratulations Award Winners!

Fulbright Fellowship Awarded

Congratulations to Our Spring 2011 Students

Congratulations to Ararupa Chatterjee and Bhoja Basnet on being selected as one of the 12 Future Leaders sponsored and selected by the Associa-tion of International Agriculture and Rural Development to at-tend the annual meeting in Washington, DC. (June 5-8)!The Association for Interna-tional Agriculture and Rural

Dr. Dirk Hays has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship. He will be in Nepal for 6 months beginning January 2012.The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange pro-gram sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.

Dean’s Honor Roll

Dianna Fisher

Michael Frantzen

Melissa Ganotis

Ana Sofia Corona Gaxiola

Kelsy Hoegenauer

Jeff Wong

Distinguished Student:

Eduard Beloiu

We had 13 additional students with a 4.0 term GPA who did not make the list because they were taking less than 15 hours.

Jamie Lynn Ausley

Sarah Anne Coffey

Landon Blaine Crotwell

Brandon James Gerrish

Paige Amanda Graves

Kyle Matthew Schwertner

Alicia Marie Stewart

Bruce Edward Vento

Pierce Gregory Young

Future Leaders SelectedDevelopment (AIARD) admin-isters a competitive scholar-ship program to nurture and to provide partial financial support to students attending both 1) the AIARD Annual Conference and 2) the annual Future Lead-ers Forum in Washington, D.C. Scholarships are awarded on a competitive basis to students who have a sincere interest

in international agriculture and rural development issues and their solutions. These scholar-ships are intended to enhance the students’ understanding and appreciation of issues and opportunities in international agriculture and rural develop-ment.

Volume V, Issue 5

KUDOS!

Page 8

On Dec. 24, 2010, the turfgrass academic community lost one of its brightest young scholars, when James Christopher (Chris) Stiegler and his wife, Jenny, were killed in an automobile accident in Texas while travelling to be with their family for the holidays. Chris

received his B.S.and M.S. degrees in turfgrass man-agement at Oklahoma State University and worked for a period of time as an assistant golf course su-perintendent in Wichita, KS and as a Cooperative Extension Agent in Oklahoma. Chris completed a PhD in turfgrass science at the University of Arkan-sas in May of 2010 and was an assistant professor of turfgrass ecology and physiology at Texas A&M University in College Station TX in August, 2010.

The C5 (Turfgrass Science) Division of the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) has long recognized the importance of graduate students to the health and vitality of our organization and we have many programs in place to support and encourage graduate student participation in the meetings. Chris Stiegler actively took part in CSSA as a graduate student as he was readying himself for a promising career. Although the Long Beach meeting in 2010 was his first as a faculty member, his contributions, and those of other graduate students, to the C5 division and turf-grass science should never be underestimated.

As a way to honor Chris's major contributions to the C5 Division of CSSA as a graduate student and to further encourage future scholars to participate in our meetings, a fund has been established that will be used to award travel grants each year to deserv-ing graduate students in the C5 Division of CSSA.

This will be an endowed fund and awards will be made to a minimum of two students each year (initially proposing $500 per student) to offset travel expenses to the meeting. Additional awards will be made pursuant to appropriate funding.

Chris Stiegler Turfgrass Science Graduate Student Travel AwardThe Next Step: Funding the EndowmentIn order to make this award a reality, a minimum of $25,000 is needed in support to fully endow this fund. All members and supporters of the tri-soci-eties are encouraged to support efforts to reach this milestone in a timely fashion. Although Chris was primarily affiliated with CSSA, Chris's father, Jim Stiegler, has been a long-standing member of ASA and SSSA and has many friends and sup-porters within our communities. If you would like to support this activity, donations can be submitted either by check or through a secure, online form.

To submit a check: - Make checks out to ASF - Note - Chris Stiegler Fund on the memo line and send to:

ASF5585 Guilford Rd

Madison, WI 53711To submit a secure, online donation, select the Chris Stiegler Graduate Student Travel Fund from the dropdown list on the CSSA foundation web-site at: https://www.crops.org/foundation/donate.

There are likely many sources of funding within our academic community that might want to con-tribute to this fund. It would also be appropriate to approach turf industry associations, corpo-rate entities, and private individuals, among oth-ers, to donate to this fund. If desired, portions of gifts can be earmarked as "available for im-mediate award", such that awards can be made prior to the fund reaching an endowed level.

If you need any assistance in discussing this pro-gram with potential donors, please contact:

Dr. Mike Richardson (mricha@uark.edu), Dr. Richard White (rh-white@tamu.edu), or Dr. Greg

Bell(greg.bell@okstate.edu).

Volume V, Issue 5

Page 9 Volume V, Issue 5

CondolencesNancy Harris’ daughter, Jocelyn Richards, passed away in May after a long battle with Cancer.

Thoughts and prayers to Betty Priest and her family on the death of her son, Joshua Yezak. Joshua passed away May 31, 2011. Betty is our Business Coordinator in the Soil, Water and Forage Testing Lab.

Dennis Coker’s nephew was killed in a tractor accident in Hamilton, Texas in May. Dennis is a program specialist in our department.

Aaron Frank’s dad was killed and his mother was injured in an automobile accident. Aaron is a student in Soil and Crop and he is from Hereford, Texas.Condolences to Pamela Littlejohn and her family on the passing of her mother, Lois Elaine Hronek, Thursday, May 19, 2011. Pam is one of our support staff on the fourth floor.

James William Hurley, Lindra Blum’s step-father, passed away Monday, June 13 at his home. Lindra is one of our support staff on the fourth floor.

Robbie Lukeman, Jim Lukeman’s wife, had major surgery Wednesday and is at home recovering. Jim is our bookkeeper in the main office.

Dr. Dixon’s wife, Martha, is at home recovering from knee replacement surgery. Dr. Dixon is Professor Emeritus in Soil Min-eralogy.

George and Janie McBee received a good report in Houston this past Tuesday. She tested free of cancer following the bladder removal surgery. George is Professor Emeritus in Soil and Crop.

Joyce Morgan is suffering from a rather rapid progression of Alzheimer’s Disease. She is still at home and their son, daugh-ter-in-law and daughter are here to assist Page with her care. She has been accepted as a Hospice patient and their visits have begun. Page is Professor Emeritus in Soil and Crop.

Lloyd Nelson experienced shortness of breath while mowing the lawn last week and had bypass surgery on Wednesday, June 15.He had a quadruple bypass surgery and is recouperating. Lloyd is Professor Emeritus in research.

Let’s remember these, along with that of Marvin Riewe in our prayers.

Thomas Daniel Hinesly ‘52AgronomyUrbana, IL

In Memory of Former Students

Jimmy Dale Pearson ‘70Plant Breeding

Canyon, TX

Milton John Norris Jr. ‘42AgronomyAlvin, TX Pink Paul Rigger, Jr. ‘53

AgronomyUrbana, IL

Volume V, Issue 5Page 10

If you have awards or information that you would like mentioned in future newsletters, please send to dsutherland@ag.tamu.edu

Gabriel James Warren, grandson of Wayne and Elizabeth Smith, born April 27, 2011; 7 lbs and 10 oz. Parents are Amy and Harry Warren. Wayne is our Associate Department Head and Professor of Plant Breeding.

Brooklynn Nicole was born early Wednesday morning to Paul and Misty DeLaune. Brooklynn weighed in at 8 lb. 2 oz. Her big sisters Kaylee (4) and Maddison (2) have warmly embraced her. Paul the Assistant Profes-sor in Environmental Soil Science in our Vernon office.

Did you know?

TAMU was represented on the local Bend, Oregon news by our own Heather Watson. http://www.ktvz.com/video/27734154/index.html

When using a business parking permit in a parking garage, you must go through the second scan gate before parking.

Congratulations - New Babies

Angela and Dudley Smith have a new grandbaby, Wesley Sobell Smith. He arrived June 15th at 8:00 a.m. weighing 7 lbs. 7oz. and 20 inches long. Congratulations!

If you have not renewed your parking permit, you can go to http://transport.tamu.edu/parking/FAQpermit/FAQpermitpay.aspx#apd. Select “Online Parking Registration” and you will have a choice to renew by NetID or SSO.

Insurance enrollment and premium information can be found at http://www.tamus.edu/offices/benefits/annualenrollment/ .

Page 11

June 28 Eagle Lake Field Day

July 10-12 Texas Turfgrass Association Summer Conference - Hyatt Lost Pines Resort

July 14 Beaumont Field Day

Aug. 6 SAVE THE DATE - VSP Retirement Party

Oct. 5 Turfgrass and Landscape Field Day - College Station

Sept. 10-14 AAIC Annual Meeting - Fargo, North Dakota

Oct. 14 Tailgate Bash

Oct. 16-19 ASA, CSSA, SSSA Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX

Dec. 5-6 Texas Plant Protection Association 2011 Conference - Brazos Center, Bryan

Calendar Events

Communications Office - ISSAC Compliance

TAMU 2474 · College Station · TX · 77843-2474· PH 979-845-3041

Each university computer owner/user is required to complete an “End-User” ISAAC report by June 30, 2011. It’s only 15 questions.

FIRST:Scan your computer to make sure there is no confidential (Grades, Student Records, SS Numbers, Credit Card Numbers, etc.) information using the following software:

Windows Users: http://www2.cit.cornell.edu/security/tools/Spider_Release_2008.zip MAC Users: http://www2.cit.cornell.edu/security/tools/Spider_OSX.dmg NOTE: Download software, install it, close all programs and run scanner utility.

SECOND:Please go to: https://isaac-eu.tamu.edu/LOG-IN with Net-ID username and password.NOTE: Print a copy of the report for your records.

Please let the Communications office know if you have any problems.

2011

Volume V, Issue 5

Texas A&M University - Department of Soil & Crop Sciences - TAMU 2474, College Station, TX 7784343

Page 12 Volume V, Issue 5

25th Annual Dr. O.D Butler Memorial Forage Field DayMay 20, 2011