Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Following introductions by the attendees, the group welcomed Dr. Mat Ngouajio, National Science Liaison with NIFA. Dr. Ngouajio has responsibility for plant protection, plant production and organic farming across NIFA programs. As a National Science Liaison he is located in Washington, D.C. where he works closely to coordinate programs and opportunities in these areas with other federal agencies.  He can also help get inquiries to the appropriate place within NIFA as staffing continues to change as a result of the move to Kansas City and the previous contacts for many programs have changed.  He provided a brief update on NIFA’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as an update on the organization’s structure and status of hiring new personnel following the move.

The group then had an open discussion of how programs are being affected by the pandemic and mechanisms being used to allow work to continue, and plan for ramping up activities.  Some discussion points:

• Laboratory and other on-campus activities have been limited by restricted occupancy rates, though the levels imposed vary by institution. Many activities limited only to those that are required to maintain critical materials, animals and equipment.
• Many campuses are preparing to allow for increased occupancy in labs starting as early as this week. Some have mask protocols in place for entering and exiting spaces. Some campuses are requiring testing prior to people returning to campus.
• Field research has been allowed to continue with proper safety measures in place. Travel restrictions (number occupants in vehicles, no overnight stays allowed, mandatory quarantine period for anyone returning from out-of-state) and PPE requirements where distancing is not possible have impacted this somewhat and increased costs.
• Both international students and new faculty have been experiencing further delays (6-8 months) in obtaining visas. Quarantine periods are being required for those coming from outside the US and should also be figured into the timing of on-boarding international students and faculty.  
• Many department heads indicated that they were finding ways to deal with the transition, but that there was a lot of confusion about operational changes and procedures, requirements for ramp up, how access to materials like PPE and testing is being handled and who is responsible for enforcement of requirements.
• One strategy implemented to help deal with the ongoing transition and communication is to hold weekly virtual informal meetings with faculty, staff and students. This has resulted in community building and group problem solving.
• Temporary work assignments are being used by at least one institution to allow students to relocate and quarantine before their assistantships officially start.
• Several institutions have automatically extended the tenure clock by one year for all pre-tenure faculty with the option of going up according to the original timetable if desired.

The group briefly discussed plans for upcoming meetings. Janine Sherrier at UGA agreed to host the group next year since she could not this time. As previously discussed, the group will plan to meet at UKY followed by NC State in subsequent years. The group agreed to continue meeting in mid-May and the host representative will chair the future meetings.  The group was reminded that there will be a time at the ASA meeting for department heads to meet before adjourning.