Southern Administrative Heads Winter Meeting

Clifton Room, Omni Louisville Hotel
Louisville, KY
Monday, February 3, 2020, 11:00 a.m – 3:00 p.m.

Participants:

Call-in Participants:

1. NIFA Update – Scott Angle
   1. Important for NIFA personnel to attend meetings to interact with LGU faculty and administrators
   2. Currently in temporary building, probably in permanent one by August or September
   3. Plenty of space for meetings and interaction
   4. Will have ~20 people in South Building in DC, maybe by Fall, currently in Patriots Plaza
   5. Currently hiring, getting 70-80 applicants per position, a lot more than in DC
   6. Next round of job postings will be more focused
   7. Have a good pool of applicants from 1890’s also
   8. All tasks are prioritized, but if something is really needed, it moves up list
   9. Using NSF model of IPA’s (temporary employees), probably ~20% of specialist positions
   10. NIFA will be reporting cost savings to Congress after a year or so
   11. Employee number is back up to ~140, still need to double that
   12. Doing well replacing business postions, Cynthia Montgomery’s replacement has been identified
   13. Does NIFA understand the risk for US being underfunded in agricultural research?
       1. Yes, including the Secretary, but President has final say on the budget proposed. However, Congress is most important for funding decisions
   14. ARS has been doing very well with budget, particularly for infrastructure
   15. May be more opportunity for infrastructure support in the future with a state match
   16. 1890’s have done well with the Federal budget, but most are still struggling at state level


2. Reimagining Input – Scott Angle
   1. Some great ideas have come in, some can be done quickly
   2. For reporting, goal is to collect as little info as possible and collect it in a simple way
   3. If there are things Congress is requiring that NIFA doesn’t need, LGU’s could try to change that
   4. They are examining everything that’s collected
      


3. Issues from Sunday’s SAAS Board meeting and items for Tuesday’s meeting – Paul Patterson
   1. Still going strong and budget is healthy
   2. Animal Science and Plant Pathology have left, but most others are stable
   3. Some talk among Ag Education about leaving
   4. Would be good to have an evaluation of overall conference
   5. Need to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of overall conference
   6. Tim Cross will work on having that done during his year as SAAS President


4. Update on Federal Budget and current Realigment Scheme – Hunt Shipman
   1. Waiting for state of union address, which will be a preview
   2. Release of budget wil be on February 10
   3. Most appropriations request deadlines will be mid-March. House wants to mark up in May and vote in June. Senate will be later
   4. FY ’21 process mostly same, but don’t have to wait on budget agreement, since last year’s was for 2 years
   5. Increase in spending over last year will be much smaller, so presure to move budget will be less this year
   6. BAC call on February 18 to discuss President’s budget and strategy for Hill visits
   7. One-pager will be out soon for review, with infrastructure in the footnote
   8. Pushing for usual 7 lines without harming others
   9. New CLP chair, Marshall Steward, has set up regular calls to discuss changes as they are suggested
   10. Matching issue will be high priority
   11. Will the DARPA-like funding mechanism be included in appropriations?
       1. Depends on amount of new spending available
   12. What about partnering with other stakeholder advocacy groups?
       1. Doug Steele has been engaging with some of those groups, particularly most vocal ones
       2. One problem is when they only advocate for competitive and when support for all three functions is not balanced
   13. Should we emphasize infrastructure support at this time?
       1. That topic will get more complex because ARS support has been largely for facilities on campuses
       2. Yes, we should start pushing this funding
       3. Rebuild Rural is reqorking their documents now and will include LGU needs, they’re advocating for $1B per year for 10 years
       4. Can we tap into some of Rural Development Funds even though campuses are in urban areas?
   14. How much does NIFA and ARS compete for funding?
       1. Within President’s budget, it’s worked out at the REE level
       2. More competition in Congress with different advocacy groups
   15. Is it possible congressionally directed funding will come back?
   16. Was a move last week in House to bring it back, but political will was not there for it to succeed


5. Items from Administrative Heads Executive and Section meetings in November – Paul Patterson and Tim Cross
   1. Only item was a preview of general AHS meeting that afternoon


6. Continuing and potential new duties for part-time Executive Director after June 1 – Eric Young
   1. Eric indicated his firm retirement date is June 30, after that date he’ll be available to provide additional support for the S-AHS, if they need something done, one-time or routinely
   2. Eric was asked to take over collecting the annual salary survey information from the Southern 1862’s, beginning this year.
      1. Survey should go out in early October
      2. Check with business officers on how best to report salaries; adjusted to 12 months or actual pay with term indicated
      3. Request information in early October, due in early December
      4. 1890’s may want to begin collecting their information, Eric will talk with Alton about that possibility
   3. Eric will attend six meetings per year for the S-AHS and may be asked to represent them at special meetings occasionally
      1. An annual travel budget of $12,000 was approved


7. Discussion topic – Attracting students to our curriculum and increasing distance education courses
   1. Chancellor of University of Arkansas Faith Hill campus announced that students could pursue their BS at a community college for the first two years, when they transfer to Faith Hill, they pay the same tuition as at the community college
   2. Clemson is looking at first and second year courses that the community colleges don’t have and offering them online
   3. Number of students coming from high school will drop at least 10% in about five years, in a fast decline
   4. UTK is continually trying to increase online courses, but hard for faculty to find time to develop these courses
   5. Helps if revenue generated goes back to the department and in some cases directly to faculty
   6. At Oklahoma State in agricultural leadership, if they get associate degree at community college, they can do two years all on line and get a BA


8. Election of New S-AHS Secretary – Paul Patterson
   1. Nominee from Summer meeting is Keith Belli, Clemson University – approved unanimously
   2. After this meeting, Tim Cross will become Chair and Robert Taylor will be Chair-elect
   3. Tim and Robert will be our representatives on the national AHS Executive Committee


9. Summer Southern AHS meeting and agenda topic suggestions – Keith Belli and Eric Young
   1. Southern AHS/CARET summer meeting will be held in Clemson, SC, July 31 – August 2, hosted by Clemson University and South Carolina State University
   2. Suggestions for the agenda and program
      1. Highlight new initiatives and/or particularly impactful programs at Clemson, either on the tour or with a presentation, or both
      2. Updates from APLU and Cornerstone for joint meeting agenda
      3. Discussion topic(s) for S-AHS agenda with preassigned leader(s)
      4. Involve SC CARET delegate(s) in planning the program and schedule
10. Possible future Southern Mini Land-grant Meeting
    1. Timing needs to be further away from national CARET/AHS meeting than last one, also not July or August due to August ASRED, ARRD, & AEA joint meeting and not late April or early May due to graduation.
    2. Best timing appears to be late May or early June.
    3. Target 2022 to allow plenty of time for logistical and program planning
    4. Eric, Ron, Alton, and Albert will talk with their directors/administrators at meetings in the next few months. S-AHS will talk with their CARET delegates and Academic Program directors
    5. Meeting rotation schedules for 2022 to consider when choosing host are; S-AHS – Kentcky, ASRED – Arkansas, SAAESD – Mississippi
11. Updates on current situation at home institutions
    1. View the compiled institutional updates document

View the .PDF version of the February 3, 2020 Southern Administrative Heads Winter Meeting minutes