CALS dean guides team through North Carolina
Media Contact: Janine Brumfield, 919.225.4155
Dean Richard Linton of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at NC State and his department heads will explore North Carolina’s piedmont region on Sept. 25 and 26, including stops in Rowan and Montgomery counties. This is Linton’s second annual tour, taking faculty from the College to visit research stations, Extension offices and various agriculture and life science industry partners.
Tour participants include department heads from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Dean Linton, associate deans, regional allies and staff members who coordinating the tour. Roughly 25 CALS faculty and staff members will journey from Raleigh to Greensboro, then Lexington, Salisbury, Troy, Sanford and back to Raleigh.
The tour will give faculty an opportunity to visit several agricultural and life sciences-related operations throughout the state, and trek through N.C. farms and processing plants. During the tour, faculty will have time to explore cross departmental relationships, setting the foundation for future partnerships and collaborations.
On Thursday, the first day of the tour, the group tour the group will travel by bus to Greensboro’s North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University to meet with Dean Bill Randall and faculty members in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.
On Friday, day two of the tour, the CALS group will visit two sites where news media are invited to join in:
Piedmont Research Station, Salisbury: 7 – 8:30 a.m.
o Address: 8350 Sherrills Ford Road, Salisbury
o Tour host and facility contacts:Joe Hampton and Catherine Liebensperger
o Phone: 704.278.2624
o Web address: http://www.ncagr.gov/research/prs.htm
Montgomery County Extension Office, Troy: 11:15 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
o 203 W Main St., Troy
o Tour host and facility contact: Molly Alexi
o Phone: 910.576.6011
o Web address: http://montgomery.ces.ncsu.edu/
The dean’s tour was conceptualized by Linton based on his own personal experience on a similar tour at Purdue University. Linton credits the tour he participated in as, “the most important activity I ever did as a new faculty member.” Although this year’s tour is for department heads, Linton hopes CALS participants will express similar enthusiasm after last year’s success.
“Last year’s tour gave us a chance to interact with the administrative team one-on-one,” said Dr. Jim Kerns, Department of Plant Pathology. “Although it is two days out of your schedule, it was fantastic to see the diversity of North Carolina agriculture. Beyond that, touring the facilities with your peers is a true learning experience.”
“The tour opened my eyes to North Carolina and also took interactions between new faculty members to a different level,” said Dr. Slavko Komarnytsky, Agricultural and Resource Economics Department, who attended the tour last year. Komarnytsky said that several innovative projects resulted among faculty who first met during the tour. Komarnytsky wanted to know, “Are there still spaces left on this year’s tour?”
For more information about the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences please visit, www.cals.ncsu.edu, or follow Linton on Twitter @CALS_Dean. Please contact Janine Brumfield at 919.225.4155 with tour day questions.
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