Helene R. Dillard is the new director of Cornell Cooperative Extension and associate dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and College of Human Ecology. Dillard is focusing her attention on strengthening and further developing Cornell Cooperative Extension's outreach effort across the state. She also plans to reinforce and build industry and organizational partnerships at the county, state, and federal levels.
A professor of plant pathology at Cornell's New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, N.Y., Dillard served as chair of the station's plant pathology department from 1997 to 2001. Last year she became the associate director of Cornell Cooperative Extension, while continuing her plant pathology research efforts.
She joined Cornell in 1984 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor in 1990. She became a full professor in 1998. Dillard received a B.S. in 1977 from the University of California-Berkeley, an M.S. in 1979 and Ph.D. in 1984 from the University of California-Davis.
A diverse and active alumni population contributes to the vitality of our organization. Your ALS Alumni Association exists to promote fellowship and leadership among alumni and students and to advance the teaching, research, and extension functions of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
This year the Association reviewed data on the college's alumni population, because we are developing a plan to reconfigure our board of directors to better address our demographic and geographic distribution of alumni.
With more than 47,000 addresses in our database, 40 percent of our alumni live in New York State. We have a dedicated force of volunteer leaders planning events and serving as volunteers within the state. We're thankful to have strong leaders in New York City and the surrounding area, where about 5,600 ALS alumni reside.
We know that we need to have better outreach and programming for the 60 percent of ALS alumni who live beyond New York State. We are looking for willing leaders to help plan programs in at least the following key alumni population centers:
- Washington, D.C. and Baltimore
- Boston
- Philadelphia
- Northern New Jersey
- Chicago
As vice president, I was fortunate to serve as chair of our new Diversity Committee. Our discussions were lively and focused on finding better ways to market our alumni programs, recruit volunteers, partner with other alumni organizations, and build student awareness of opportunities for student/alumni interaction. The Diversity Committee remains an important voice for our Association as we move beyond
New York State.
Serving the college and the ALS Alumni Association is a rewarding experience, no matter how much time you have to offer. We are interested in programming that serves the broadest base of our alumni audience. Let us know what you would like to see in your area-and if you, too, are ready to help us explore these new regions.
Edward Staehr '88, MPS '94, ALS Alumni Association President
For undergraduate students who wish to explore international agriculture, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has two options. The former International Agriculture concentration under ALS Special Programs has been approved by the college, Cornell, and the state education department as the new International Agriculture and Rural Development (IARD) major. In the same field, ALS undergraduates can choose to minor in International Studies while majoring in any other field of study in the college. Some students are choosing IARD as a second major, in a double-major program.
This B.S. program with a major in International Agriculture and Rural Development is designed for students who wish to concentrate their agricultural degree program on the special problems and prospects of agricultural development in less-developed countries. The program is offered primarily for students preparing for direct employment abroad or volunteer work in the less-developed countries, for example in the Peace Corps; preparing for post-graduate education; or who want a broad introduction to the issues of international development.
For further information, please visit the website at http://ip.cals.cornell.edu/academics/undergraduate.cfm. The IARD major is in the International Programs Department of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, listed at http://ip.cals.cornell.edu.
Pedro Sanchez, a native Cuban and graduate of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, has received the $250,000 World Food Prize for 2002.
Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation, in announcing the prize said, "This is a historic occasion as it appears that the World Food Prize is the highest scientific honor ever presented to a native of Cuba."
Sanchez, a citizen of the United States, is currently a visiting professor of tropical resources at the University of California at Berkeley's College of Natural Resources.
Sanchez was selected for his groundbreaking contributions to reducing hunger and malnutrition throughout the developing world by transforming depleted tropical soils into productive agricultural lands. As the leader of the North Carolina State University Rice Research Program in the 1970s, Sanchez helped guide Peru to dramatically improve its national food security, achieving self-sufficiency in rice production within three years, and achieving among the highest rice yields in the world. Next, Sanchez developed a comprehensive approach to soil management which enabled 75 million acres of marginal Brazilian land, known as the Cerrado, to be brought into production-the single largest increase in arable agricultural land in the last half-century.
Most recently, Sanchez served as director general of the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF), a Future Harvest center of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) located in Nairobi. There, Sanchez has led the scientific research effort to provide smallholder farmers in Africa and Southeast Asia with the means to replenish crucial nutrients in exhausted soils, through the development and promotion of agroforestry.
Sanchez was born in Havana in 1940. The son of an agronomist, as a young boy he often traveled with his father around the island of Cuba observing his father's efforts to convince farmers and sugarcane producers to use fertilizers more effectively. Sanchez credits this early experience as his inspiration for his studies in agricultural science at Havana's Collegio de la Salle. In 1958 he came to the United States and enrolled at Cornell University where he received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees.
Donald R. Viands has been named associate dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the new director of the Office of Academic Programs. He succeeds H. Dean Sutphin, who left Cornell last December to take the position of associate dean and director of Academic Programs in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech.
Viands is responsible for the administration of the college's curriculum, instruction, support services, and teaching and learning environment. He has oversight of the key functional areas of Academic Programs: undergraduate admissions, registrar, counseling and advising, career development, and minority programs. Viands is also responsible for directing the ALS Master of Professional Studies (MPS) program.
Viands received a B.S. in agronomy (1974) from the University of Maryland before earning an M.S. (1977) and a Ph.D. (1979) in plant breeding from the University of Minnesota. He joined Cornell in 1979 as an assistant professor in the Department of Plant Breeding. He became an associate professor in 1985 and a professor in 1992. Since 1995, Viands was also the associate director of Academic Programs. His area of expertise is in forage breeding to improve yield, quality, and persistence.
The Department of Animal Science is 100 years old! We will celebrate this achievement with a weekend of reflection, vision, and fun on November 7-9, 2003. That date coincides with the college's Outstanding Alumni Awards banquet, and we have already begun to organize an exciting program.
There will be a full-day symposium on Friday, November 7, in which invited alumni and faculty will give presentations on the department's past, present, and future. On Saturday and, possibly, Sunday, we will have many other activities to showcase the department's programs involving faculty, staff, and students. Social events will include a breakfast and an informal dinner on Saturday, November 8.
Stay tuned for further details and feel free to make suggestions to Alan Bell, chair of the organizing committee (awb6@cornell.edu). In the meantime, mark your calendars and consider making hotel reservations. We have a block of rooms in the Statler Hotel that will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.