Susan A. Henry
The Ronald P. Lynch
Dean of Agriculture
and Life Sciences

At the end of the academic year, we set aside two very special weekends: one, to herald our new graduates; the second, to welcome alumni back to campus. On May 26, the Cornell community, parents, and friends began convening to celebrate the remarkable achievements of the Class of 2006 and to fête the faculty, staff, and families who brought us to graduation together on May 28. From June 8 to 11, we celebrated our loyalties to the College by renewing common bonds and friendships during Cornell Reunion. These are capstone occasions, and I was heartened to see so many of you at both events.

I would also like to welcome all staff in CALS to the subscriber list of eCALSconnect. This is the College's internal newsletter, whose electronic distribution was launched in 2006. eCALSconnect is distributed in March, June, September, and December by the CALS Office of Alumni Affairs, Development, and Communications. Broadening the distribution to CALS staff as well as CALS faculty, and to decision makers in Day Hall, has increased our readership from 1,500 to 4,680 subscribers.

CALS is a remarkable community. This newsletter is one of the best ways to communicate among ourselves. Take the opportunity to read it. I also encourage you to communicate often with the behind-the-scene editors at ecalsconnect@cornell.edu, and I welcome you all aboard.

As this is also the end of the fiscal year, it is a time for us to reflect on the recent budget actions taken by the New York State executive and legislative branches. On the state side, I am very happy to report that the budget for the contract colleges is a very positive one. For the first time, Cornell's land-grant activities have been acknowledged in the budget. Our land-grant mission, like our academic mission, will continue to be funded through SUNY, but will no longer be funded based on factors such as student enrollment, external research funding, or unique costs to a campus, none of which is relevant to our land-grant activities. The leadership at SUNY has been fully supportive of these changes. We appreciate their role in making this year's state budget a good one for higher education and CALS.

The SUNY budget this year designated $60 million of the total allocation to Cornell specifically for land-grant activities. CALS, as one of the University's flagships for land-grant affairs, will share in those funds. The increased visibility this recognition will bring us as the Land-Grant College of Agriculture and Life Sciences comes with increased accountability to the citizens of New York. We must be aware of the importance of communicating with our stakeholders, and documenting the impact of our work on their behalf. With our faculty reporting and Impact statement initiatives well underway, the College leadership and our lobbyists in Albany and Washington are well-positioned to report on research, teaching, and extension activities that best serve Cornell's land-grant mission.

In other budget news, funding for key CALS applied agricultural research programs held steady in the state budget. Those programs include Ag in the Classroom, Apiary Research, FarmNet/FarmLink, Golden Nematode, Geneva Equipment, IPM, North Country Ag, Onion Industry Research, Pro-Dairy, the Fredonia Grape Entomologist, and the NYS Seed Lab (Geneva). Community IPM received a 33 percent increase.

In “new” budget appropriations, the Hudson Valley Lab in Highland, N.Y., will receive $85,000 for viticultural research and extension work. More good news for the state's wine and grape industries comes in the form of the $5.3 million allocated to fund Cornell's Vineyard Laboratory in Fredonia, N.Y.

In addition, the Cornell Biological Field Station (CBFS) received $200,000 to upgrade student housing. CBFS, located at Shackelton Point, is a well-known gem in the aquatic research realm with a campus on the shores of Oneida Lake. It is under the auspices of the Department of Natural Resources and will celebrate its 50th anniversary in July.

Funding for an invasive species center has not passed this year. In the future, we hope this important $3 million initiative will be funded. The College has much to contribute to research and extension in the area of invasive species. For more on those activities, I refer you to the CALS Featured Impact on Invasives.

On the federal side, Congressmen Sherwood Boehlert, Maurice Hinchey, and James Walsh secured $13.89 million to complete construction of the USDA's new Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Grape Genetics facility in Geneva. The project was included in the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee budget passed by the House. This now awaits action by the U.S. Senate. This state-of-the-art facility will offer the very latest technologies to USDA and Cornell scientists working in the area of grape genomics. This funding for Geneva does not diminish the University's support of the Center for Health Based Crop Genomics on the Ithaca campus. We have received assurances from both ARS and the House Appropriations Committee that the project remains authorized and in good standing.

For their efforts on our behalf this year, we would like to thank our elected representatives on both sides of the aisles at the state and federal level.

Going forward, Paul Streeter, director of institutional planning and assessment for the University, and CALS interim director of financial affairs, has projected the CALS budget from fiscal year 2006 through fiscal year 2011. He presented the College leadership with possible scenarios based on different assumptions of tuition increases and other financial variables. The projection indicates some significant financial challenges ahead. Much of the budget pressure comes from a lack of state support for the College's capital projects and aging infrastructure, which is forcing CALS to adopt its own schedule of ongoing capital investment and facilities' renovations. In addition, the startup packages that we offer new faculty to help them establish their programs are both essential and costly.

We have been able to realize some efficiencies internally. Moving forward, our budget calls for a reduction in number of people (faculty and staff) by about 1 percent per year for the next five years. This reduction will occur through retirements and by not filling certain positions. Due, in part, to workforce planning, from 2002 to 2006 there was a reduction of 46 total administrative staff positions in the College, the majority of which occurred through retirements and reorganization. Over the next two months, Paul Streeter will be speaking with chairs and program directors regarding the impact of these reductions.

In addition to internal workforce planning, another important action we must take to help alleviate our budget needs is to intensify our fund-raising efforts. Only about 20 percent of the College's total budget is provided by the state, which, even in a good year, is not enough to relieve all our budget needs. So, it is clear that we must continue to diversify our revenue stream and attract more private funding, whether from individuals, foundations, corporate partnerships, or industry, trade, and commodity groups. We will be focusing much more in the next few years on the crucial task of building endowment for the College, especially to support faculty appointments, student scholarships, and priority academic programs.

Ours is a strong, resourceful, and resilient College, and I am fully confident of our ability to overcome the challenges we face. In this season of commemoration, it is important that we celebrate the unparalleled contributions we make every day to the betterment of society through teaching, research, and extension.

The contributions we make to sustainable progress in the realms of agriculture, the environment, economic development, rural life, public health and nutrition, and the biological sciences are both legion and legendary.

We have the job of knowing, every day, that our efforts matter — to our students, to our stakeholders in New York State, and to countless people throughout the world who are reaching for a better life.

Have an excellent summer.

Susan A. Henry, Ph.D.
The Ronald P. Lynch Dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences