My academic background is dairy nutrition. I started my career with a 70 percent extension, 30 percent teaching appointment and eventually migrated to a 60 percent teaching, 40 percent research appointment. In terms of my research, in recent years, my focus was mainly on increasing the conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) content of milk. CLA is a potent anticarcinogen found only in milk and meat from ruminants. My focus was on using pasture to increase this nutrient, since fresh forage is high in unsaturated fatty acids and results in increased milk CLA. Part of this research was to evaluate the fatty acid content of different forages and their effectiveness at increasing milk CLA.

My first love, however, has always been teaching. I love working with students. I spent almost 20 years on the faculty at Clemson in the animal and veterinary science department and taught a variety of classes. My favorite was "Principles of Animal Nutrition" where we delved into the digestive physiology of different animal species and the mechanisms of nutrient digestion and metabolism. I also enjoyed teaching "Dairy Techniques," which is a hands-on class to expose students to working with dairy cattle. We had approximately 300 pre-vet students at Clemson, and most had never worked with large animals. Our curriculum was designed to give students as much hands-on experience as possible, and students love opportunities to learn in this manner. Having grown up on a dairy farm in Missouri, it's gratifying to watch students who have never been exposed to agriculture get excited and interested in it.

I have a passion for agriculture and a passion for teaching. I was also very involved in curriculum development when I was a faculty member at Clemson and enjoyed serving in a faculty leadership role. This position seemed like a great fit for me because it allows me to work with students and academic programs and be involved in agriculture.

I am an alumnus of the University of Georgia and have great memories of the time I spent here. I attended three land-grant universities — the University of Missouri, Iowa State University and the University of Georgia. The two best teachers that I had during those nine years of education were both here at the University of Georgia. I have a great appreciation for the quality of teaching on this campus and I am honored to be a part of it.

My immediate goals are to continue to meet the college faculty, staff and students, become more familiar with the academic programs in the college, and assess the academic program needs.

One of the priorities of our college is to increase the enrollments of both ndergraduate
and graduate students. I plan to be involved in that effort. There are more jobs for graduates in agriculture than there are students, and we have to relay that message to potential students.

We need to attract both traditional and nontraditional students. It's no secret that admission to the University of Georgia is more competitive than it used to be. Of the students who took the most rigorous curriculum that their high school had to offer, 90 percent are accepted by UGA. That's a powerful piece of information for students and parents to be aware of. High school students should not shy away from the rigorous courses.

We also need to continue to market ourselves and fi gure out how to increase our appeal to nontraditional students. We have many high quality, high tech programs in our college, and most people are not aware of them. We need to constantly strive to get the word out about what we offer. We need to increase our contact with potential employers and increase the opportunities for internships both at home and abroad.

Finally, we need to work to improve our working relationships with other land-grant universities in our region. Distance education, especially at the graduate level, can greatly enhance educational opportunities, and we need to figure out how to break down the barriers of working across state lines.