August 12, 2019 Minutes

Notes

Participants:

1. Debrief on Southern Mini Land-grant meeting – Tim Cross
   • What went well?
   • What did not go so well?
   • What should we do differently?
   • When should another similar regional meeting occur?
     Discussion –
     • Overall thought the meeting was very good
     • Evaluation survey showed most (25–1) wanted to hold another mini Land–grant at some point in the future
     • Joint discussions were very helpful and informative
     • Attendance was good, probably since there had not been this type of meeting for 16 years
     • CARET members liked everyone being there together; R, E, & T
     • Timing in 3rd week of March was not good for CARET due to the March CARET/AHS meeting in DC
     • Timing was chosen to align with AES and CES directors’ spring meetings
     • Last morning session for S–AHS was rushed with a lot of people leaving
     • S–AHS would definitely like to hold another Southern mini Land–grant
     • If we do it again, it might be in conjunction with another meeting; however that can be difficult due to the resulting overall length
     • There is value in having an institution host an event like this, particularly since CARET likes to visit campuses
     • Next one could align with usual timing of S–AHS/CARET summer meeting, which would only be close to ASRED’s August meeting with PLN
     • Consider alternating between spring and late summer timing


2. Nominee for S–AHS Secretary (to be voted on at February meeting) – Eric Young
   After February meeting, Tim Cross will be Chair and Robert Taylor Chair-elect; also both will be our representatives on AHS Executive Committee
   Discussion –
   • Discussion did not result in any volunteers or nominations
   • Paul, Tim, and Robert will serve as a nominating committee and have a willing nominee identified by the Winter meeting in Louisville, KY


3. Items from AHS Executive Committee meeting during Joint COPs – Paul Patterson
   Information and/or action items from joint sessions
   Discussion –
   • Scott Angle discussed the NIFA move and various interim actions to make up for all the personnel being lost.
     • NIFA will be hiring replacement scientists and staff over the first year and looking at reorganizing and improving efficiency during the second year
   • Doug Steele gave an update on APLU activities and what he’s working on as new Vice President.
     • Adjusting the role of PBD Chair so that person doesn’t have so many extraneous responsibilities outside the PBD; ie removing the role of FSLI Board and CARET Executive Committee memberships
     • Working to be more transparent on APLU assessments, particularly how they are calculated and details on how the funds are used
     • Adjusting the BAA budget development timeline so that priorities can be set much earlier and be ready when other advocacy groups are determining theirs
   • Strategic realignment discussion
     • Is the current proposed 6-line budget better for advocacy than the past 7-line priority budget scheme?
     • A major concern of present 7-line priorities is that it doesn’t include anything related to academic programs
     • There has been some confusion as to whether the committee’s task was to inform NIFA’s budget adjustment process or to develop a better advocacy framework for BAA budget request
     • This topic will be discussed again at the national AHS meeting during the APLU Conference
     • How does the Durbin research budget bill fit into our realignment efforts? May not be any particular connection, his bill is meant to set a tone for appropriators to increase REE’s agencies’ research lines on a more regular basis in the future
   
   
4. Ideas for mitigating the disruptions from NIFA’s move – Paul Patterson
   Scott Angle’s Comments on NIFA’s Move to Kansas City during the Joint COPs Meeting –
   • It’s clear that the move will happen, a few employees are already in place in KC, the rest will be there by end of summer. They need our support and encouragement in this very difficult transition.
   • Now is a unique opportunity to rework many aspects of how NIFA operates and interacts with the LGU’s. The first year will concentrate on an aggressive hiring process to refill vacant positions, the following year will look at reorganizing NIFA and streamlining processes.
   • There are ways that LGU’s can help during the next 9 – 12 months.
     • Direct your graduates to open positions at NIFA, most vacant science and technical positions will be filled with new graduates or postdocs.
     • Make sure students are aware of intern opportunities, which will be more numerous in the next couple years
     • There will be numerous opportunities for faculty to work as program leaders for one or two years with NIFA covering their salary & benefits, similar to how NIH and NSF operate
     • Inform NIFA about any problems or issues that occur ASAP, we know these will occur and want to be able to address them as quickly as possible
     • Some functions will be pushed into the future one or two years, like compliance and civil rights reviews, so staff can concentrate on high priority functions, ie. distributing funds and responding to Congress
     • It would assist our business offices greatly if LGU’s could take extra time to check all forms submitted to NIFA for accuracy, they spend a significant amount of time correcting forms and requesting information that was not submitted.
     • Be understanding and compassionate toward the current employees moving to KC and the new ones that will be hired over the next year.
   
   Discussion –
   • Be sure to inform Scott Angle as soon as a problem is identified, they’d like to address anything that comes up as quickly as possible
   • Help them recruit new NPL scientists and division directors from new graduates and post-docs
   • Encourage faculty to take advantage of opportunities to work 1-2 years for NIFA as program leaders, similar to how NSF operates


5. Agenda items and discussion topic(s) for February meeting at SAAS in Louisville – Paul Patterson
   Discussion –
   • S-AHS Secretary election
   • Discuss timing and location for next Southern mini Land-grant meeting. AES, CES, and hopefully 1890’s feedback will be obtained prior to the Feb meeting
   • Best practices session on a topic to be determined. Eric will send out a poll to determine most popular topic
   • Share experiences interacting with NIFA first four months after the move