Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Please see the attached file for the complete set of minutes. Below is the opening comments from the meeting.

Sandy Pierson organized the agenda leaving specific time restrictions out to encourage discussion and exploration

• Approval of previous year’s minutes –
• Brad Day is Vice-chair/Secretary. He sent an email that another person would attend, but that did not occur. Sandy Pierson will Chair and try to take the minutes
• Please send Sandy your state reports electronically. He will assemble and send out
• A group thank you to Steve Slack who will be stepping down as our

Administrative Advisor (AA). Rick Bennett will be our new AA

o  Steve Slack – Comments to the group

• This committee was organized under the auspices of the Agriculture experiment station. Hence the name North Central Administrative Committee (NCAC-14). It

is not under the auspices of APS, but a separate opportunity for academic leaders to meet at another time besides the annual APS AULF breakfast.

• This used to be a strictly regional committee. Hence the name North Central and number (14 = plant pathology). Now called multi-state because anyone can join. 

• A benefit of this group is the opportunity to discuss multiple issues of concern and to share ideas and brainstorm outside the demands of the annual APS meeting.
• Members may be asked to review multi-state projects. They are discussed here and can either be submitted directly through the NIMSS site, or can send to

Shelley Whitworth (Whitworth.2@osu.edu) in his office to be uploaded onto NIMSS. It is understood that the optimum is to have a primary and a secondary reviewer. Following discussion a vote is taken. The lead reviewer incorporates the committee’s comments in their review before submission. Next the project is reviewed by a 3-person NC group and submitted to the NC Station directors for approval. The process is detailed at the NIMSS site. Christina Hamilton (christina.hamilton@wisc.edu) is very helpful.

• All project reviews are due no later than Feb. 15, so please get them in so they can be discussed by the Directors.
• Minutes are due within 30-60 days.
• Steve has asked Terry NiBlack to assist in the soybean multi-state project. 

 NCAC-14 Committee Members homework assignment No. 1: Find out why folks did not attend and encourage them to become part of the group.

See attached file for remainder of minutes.

In addition to the attached minutes, please other documents were discussed at the meeting; Marty Draper's NIFA Update and the Revised Curriculum "Update on Plant Pathology Graduate Education Curriculum Changes at Texas A&M".  I am unable to attach them into NIMSS so if you need copies, please contact Sandy Pierson.