Dean's update

December 13 , 2010

Since my last update, I have met with our College Advisory Board for our fall meeting. This group is becoming an important sounding board for me and an asset to our college. Along with my usual update on the College, we discussed some of our areas of concern as we move forward into the legislative session with a new governor at the helm.  More recently, I was asked to serve as a co-chair of an agriculture working group charged to develop policy priorities for the incoming administration. This is a great opportunity for UConn to work with a representative group of stakeholders to provide input on policies related to agriculture in Connecticut. This fits in very well with my desire for our College to work closely with state government to address issues of importance to our state and for state government to look to UConn as a resource of intellectual talent.

I recently returned from a trip to China with Provost Nichols where we signed two new collaborative agreements with China Agricultural University and Sichuan University. Both institutions are excited about working with us on a range of activities. We are planning to develop an undergraduate study tour that includes both institutions with a goal of having our first group of students participate in 2012. We continue discussions with both institutions regarding research collaborations.  Several administrators from Sichuan University will visit us this spring to further discuss research collaborations and a delegation of our faculty have been invited to visit China Agricultural University this spring to discuss research collaborations. Upon my return, the President of Northwest Agricultural and Forestry University visited us in Storrs and would like to send a larger delegation back this spring to learn more about our Extension programs. We appear to have identified three solid partners with whom we can enhance our international collaborations in teaching, research and outreach.

As we near the holiday season, I would like to personally thank everyone for their hard work and dedication on behalf of our College.  Please have a safe and pleasant holiday.

Gregory J. Weidemann

Dean and Director