Ag Chair Elected to National Office

Dr. Robert Lane , Department Chair, was elected President of the American Association of Schools and Colleges of Agriculture and Renewable Resources (AASCARR) at the national conference in early October. As President-Elect during the past year, Lane was responsible for the annual conference program, moderating the conference and presiding over the mid-winter Board of Directors meeting in Washington D.C. Approximately 50 non-land-grant universities in the U.S. offering academic programs in agriculture and renewable resources are represented in the AASCARR organization. "I'm honored," says Lane. "I only hope I have the ability to accomplish most or all of the initiatives our members are hoping I can achieve. I have a great Board of Directors to work with and I'm confident our organization will make great strides this year."

As President, Lane and other board members will work closely with representatives from the land-grant universities, USDA, and congress to address the needs of higher education in agricultural sciences. Among Lane's major goals are assisting in the planning and organization of an Academic Summit to be held in March 2005 in Washington , D.C. and promoting a competitive capacity building grants program for the non-land-grant universities with agriculture programs. The Academic Summit will bring together university, industry and government representatives from all segments of the agricultural profession to deal with recruiting and educating those seeking a career in the highly diverse disciplines of agriculture. Over 400 individuals are expected to take part in this landmark conference, which promises to bring about some major curricular changes at both land-grant and non land-grant institutions.

Lane and others within AASCARR have been working to establish federal funding assistance for non land-grant universities through a competitive grants program. "Many of the AASCARR schools have outdated and inadequate facilities to carry out our constantly evolving mission," says Lane. "State budgets just can't keep up with what we need to teach our students and conduct meaningful agricultural research. We are trying to get a funding line established in the USDA budget that will allow us to apply for funding to improve our laboratory facilities and upgrade our equipment. I'm optimistic we can get it done, but it's going to take a lot of time, effort and patience working with a slow-moving bureaucracy."

Lane's term as President ends next October, but he plans to continue serving on the Board of Directors, as he has done for the past six years.