Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Introductions and Welcome by the virtual host institution- Following introductions, the group was welcomed by John Dole, Interim Dean, and the Associate Deans of College of Ag and Life Sciences (CALS) at NC State. The provided an overview of the college’s strategic initiatives and notable achievements, including the recent completion of the new Plant Sciences Building, and unique resources in support of research, teaching and extension.  

NIFA update- Dr. Bisoondat “Mac” Macoon, and Dr. Vance Owens, provided an overview of current NIFA priorities and initiatives. Staffing levels are up and they are discussing potentially hosting meetings in the KC offices. FY2022 priorities include climate change; building equitable, resilient, and prosperous ag systems; equitable marketplaces; opportunities for economic development and improved quality of life in rural and tribal communities; attracting, inspiring, and retaining a workforce.  

Open discussion:

The group then had an open discussion on several topics. Some discussion points:

• Grant support staff and models-The groups discussed available strategies for helping faculty be more competitive for grant funding.  Some colleges have dedicated grant writing assistance in addition to what is available centrally.  Investments seems to be having payoff. Some are dealing with centralized grant assistance, which can take time to work well and suffers from high turnover.  Some departments looking to hire dedicated pre- or post-award assistance.
• There was a brief discussion about how different colleges handle covering graduate student fees as there seems to be a push to not have this covered so that students don’t have to pay it, or have their pay be sufficient to cover it on top of the base salary/stipend.
• Salary data- There was discussion of whether salary data was available for the departments.  Starting salaries for 9-month appointments of $85-90K seem common. Compression at the more senior levels is becoming a problem as the newer faculty starting salaries are increasing. Some have been able to make special adjustments this year.  It was noted that there is an Oklahoma State Survey and an AAUP salary survey accessible online that might be helpful. 
• Institutional Collaborations- the group discussed ideas about proactively putting together teams ready to respond to opportunities like the Climate-Smart Commodities.  It is hard to know what opportunities may be on the horizon, but administrators could do a better job of being strategic about emerging areas of research.  This group also discussed possible ideas for multistate projects. One topic identified was Cotton leaf dwarf virus. The group also talked about how to incentivize faculty joining multistate projects.
• Undergraduate Enrollment Trends in Agronomy/Environmental Sciences- Some shifts observed include recent drops following years trending upward; some are seeing drops in some programs but increases in others.
• Facilities- Several members are impacted by the rising costs of construction- new buildings and renovations planned have been scaled back or are not sufficient to house all faculty.  Space allocation is a problem many are facing; those with the ability to house existing faculty in new interdisciplinary buildings are generally not able to increase their overall space, so there has to be a backfill plan. Models for space allocation could be shared among the members.

The group briefly discussed plans for upcoming meetings, including whether they should hold them virtually or in person.  It was suggested that the next meeting be hosted by Virginia Tech sometime in the summer.