March 28, 2022

I am often blown away by the ambition, creativity and inspiration of members of our community.  Last week, I observed three examples of this.  The highlight for me, because I’ve been waiting for this release for a couple of months now, was the debut of Ramiro Berardo’s documentary And Water for All at the monthly Environmental Professionals Network (EPN) on Tuesday.   This is an amazing educational work that covers a wide range of topics related to water infrastructure, policy, and political/social challenges.  The film includes four fascinating vignettes, two from rural locations and two from urban (including a focus on water issues in Toledo, years after the harmful algal bloom prompted the water to be undrinkable in that part of the state for several days).  This will be a tremendous instructional resource for folks teaching water topics.  The content is top-notch, and the quality of the production is AMAZING.  I believe Ramiro will be submitting this to some environmental film festivals and I’ll be curious if it's accepted.  The premiere of this film opened my eyes to rich new possibilities regarding the educational products a SENR faculty or staff could create.  Ramiro hopes his example can inspire others in our community to consider similar scholarly work.  He is also thinking about his next project, so stay tuned.

Also last week, Shoshanah Inwood gave testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.  The topic of the session was “Rural Quality of Life:  Challenges and Opportunities for the Rural Care Economy.”  You can see Shosh’s testimony here, with her remarks occurring at about the one-hour thirty-minute mark.  Senator Brown’s office even distributed a release of his introduction of Shosh.  Shosh has been a tireless champion for expanding awareness of how childcare and healthcare are impacting farm families and it is great to see her scholarly efforts attracting attention.  The School has had a couple faculty present to U.S. Senate or House subcommittee hearings in recent years, which is great to see, and I’ve noted those in previous Monday Morning Messages.  Since I was a graduate student, I’ve viewed the invitation to provide expert testimony to a Congressional committee as a pinnacle academic accomplishment reflecting one’s success at creating knowledge and translating it for possible policy action.  Great job Shoshanah.

Finally, on Monday I attended a forum related to the CFAES STARS program, a new initiative to identify and develop the next generation of research leaders among early and mid-career tenure track faculty within the College.  SENR had two faculty selected for this program, Suzanne Gray and Shoshanah Inwood.  The program concluded with each program participant presenting a five-minute outline of their personal research program plans for the next five years.  I really liked the ambition of Suzanne’s presentation, as she laid out an inspiring plan for developing a CFAES Aquatic Science Research and Education Center.  Anchoring the vision was a state-of-the-art research facility, which is what I’d consider a Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal (BHAG).  What impressed me about Suzanne’s goal is its imagination and ambition, which I feel can be in short supply in our college at times.  Suzanne’s presentation realistically acknowledged that the ultimate goal will be hard to achieve, but she identified some needed efforts to build connections that might create a foundation for greater capacity that will help us act if a window of opportunity should present itself.  As an administrator, I find it extremely helpful to have some good ideas primed, so when the opportunity presents itself, I’m prepared to put the idea on the table. I look forward to the moment when the opportunity emerges for SENR to whip out Suzanne’s vision.