Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Meeting was convened by Susan Duncan [SAC-4 AA]. The last meeting of SAC-4 was in 2018 and held in person at the Institute of Food Technologists meeting at IFT. None of the participants in this meeting were in the leadership role or a designated alternative at the 2018 meeting. The agenda was reviewed; no additional topics were identified.

Introductions were provided, with a brief description of the department scope provided by each department. A follow-up discussion characterized the agricultural experiment station structure/engagement with the university by several of the participants. In general, there are two basic structures:

• Independent structure with unique administration structure from the University
• Structure embedded within the university/college[s]

Gary Thompson provided a brief description of SAAESD, its role in support of the agricultural experiment stations across the southern region [Virginia/Kentucky to Oklahoma/Texas]. He described the relationship with APLU [Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities], with a brief summary of the importance of APLU in lobbying and creating visibility of the land-grant mission to federal legislators.

Susan Duncan provided a brief summary of the description of the role and responsibilities of SAC-4 as part of the SAAESD [See Appendix 5, Appendix 6].

Cindy Morley provided a brief description of the types of Multistate Projects, with focus of the discussion on Regional Multistate Research Projects. Agricultural experiment stations must spend 25% of the capacity budget on Multistate projects. Multistate projects offer multidisciplinary and multi-institutional collaborative research [supported with Extension and education] strengths to address regional/national power of multiple universities. Cindy provided a link to the SAAESD website [https://saaesd.org] for resources related to Multistate Research Projects and other activities of the SAAESD. Cindy promised to share a powerpoint slide deck about multistate projects [Appendix 7], outlining what these projects are and the value of participation. SAC-4 participants are encouraged to use the slide deck to share this information with their faculty and unit leader colleagues. An important reminder is that faculty involved in multistate projects need to officially sign up through their agricultural experiment station office so they can receive notifications about the project and be considered for funding, as managing by the agricultural experiment station at their institution.

Susan Duncan shared the list of active Multistate Research Projects of relevance to food science disciplines [Appendix 3]. There are only a couple projects that are directly focused on food science but many projects in which food science discipline contributes/supports the objectives and are valuable for food science/nutrition faculty participation.

Throughout the discussions, questions were asked and answers shared, as summarized above. The group had dynamic and obvious engagement with each other and in support of the focal topics.

Jeyam Sabbiah, University of Arkansas, was nominated for Chair of the SAC-4. Jeyam accepted the role. Joan King, Louisiana State University, was nominated for Secretary. Joan identified that she is an interim representative from LSU but was willing to serve in the secretary role until LSU decided on a unit leader. Cindy Morley shared that it is not a requirement to be a unit leader/department head or chair to serve as the representative [or leadership role] on the SAC-4. SAC-4 members are asked to be willing to serve as a representative and conduit of information to the committee and SAAESD and back to their unit [faculty; peer unit leaders] and to the agricultural experiment station Director/Associate Director at their institution.

Jeyam will work with Sue, Cindy, and Gary to organize the next meeting. Gary recommended that meeting agendas can include time to discuss issues and questions of relevance to unit management and other shared experiences as well as topics of relevance to food science.