Changes, Changes, and Still More Changes
When you next visit the University of Maine’s Witter Center you’ll find that
things look quite different than you may remember. There was a
recognized need for renovations at Witter and to improve the safety of our
students, teachers, workers and visitors. Through lots of hard work, the
former Dean of NSFA, Bruce Wiersma, former MAFES Director, Steve Reiling,
the Maine Dairy Industry Association (MDIA), and dairy producers were able
to get $800,000 in bond monies to address some of the most pressing
issues. We are very appreciative of all of the hard work put forth by Dean
Wiersma, Steve Reiling, MDIA, and dairy producers.In July of 2006 the
renovations began. T. Buck Construction and their subcontractors
worked on several areas of the farm simultaneously. The renovations
progressed rapidly; so much so that for safety reasons, the Witter Center
was closed to the public for the first time in years.
What was done:
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Painted all buildings
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Regraded the office building lawn and parking area, calf
barn, and feed areas
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Paved feed area and former dairy turnout area
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Created a concrete and paved dairy and beef turnout area
behind the existing livestock barn
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Created a new steel gate system between the new turnout
area and the dairy barn
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Reworked the livestock barn chute system to make working
cattle easier and safer
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Built a new sheep barn with extra space for raising and
finishing weanling beef steers
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Tore down the former heifer barn and converted the space
into a parking area (future Livestock Arena space)
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Tore down the feed mill
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Replaced roof on the horse barn
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Converted half of the quonset hut into a heated shop space
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Former shop converted into hay, grain, and bedding
storage, with entrances moved to rear of building
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Dairy Barn interior refaced with FRP paneling; new windows
installed
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Ceilings in the warm room (handling room), barn hallways,
and dairy barn fireproofed and painted
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Milkhouse floor leveled and resurfaced
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Netting installed on livestock barn rafters to exclude
birds
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Former beef loafing area excavated, re-graveled and is now
parking and site of the new sheep barn
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Dairy manure handling system soon to be replaced
Animals were shuffled from place to place as construction went on.
Horses lived outside, calves lived in horse stalls, the dairy herd took over
the livestock barn, and the new UMADCOWS students were indoctrinated by
milking the herd with a state fair-style milking trailer; a first for both
the cows and the students! It was an interesting and busy time for all
involved.
Even with the constantly changing environment, the UMADCOWS (and the cows
themselves!) not only performed adequately, they excelled in keeping our
milk quality top notch. The Witter Center won Agrimark’s 2006 Region
15 Top Quality Producer Award. Through all of this, the usual farm and class
activities continued.
The Witter Center won the Beef Herdsman award and took first place in
Educational Display at the Bangor State Fair. A newly created Beef
Cattle Management class took on the responsibility of preparing for, working
and showing at the Fryeburg Fair. Students volunteered in great
numbers to help with the beef cattle and to prepare and show our dairy
cattle. In all, fourteen different students showed at the Fryeburg
Fair and several others volunteered their time to prepare and care for the
cattle.
All of Witter’s buildings are now a uniform and attractive grey with
white trim, a visual expression of the cohesiveness within. Many of
the muddy areas are now gone, cleaning up the facility greatly. Visual
attractiveness aside, the renovations have made working at Witter safer and
more efficient. The new shop requires less energy to heat, the white
FRP paneling in the dairy barn raises our milk inspection score and allows
for fewer lights to be left on while still maintaining sufficient brightness
for the security cameras, the new horse barn roof makes for a cleaner, safer
environment without the leaks, and the dairy and beef cattle are cleaner and
happier in their new turnout areas. Pictures of the renovations will
be viewable at
http://www.umaine.edu/animlvet/index.htm soon.
We have also seen a number of changes in our upper administration. In
September, Professor Edward Ashworth took up his position as the new dean of
Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture. Ed came to us from Purdue
University where he was Professor and Head of the Department of Horticulture and
Landscape Architecture from 1998 where his research interests included plant
responses to freezing temperatures and the mechanism of low temperature
acclimation. Ed received his B.S. in Plant Science from the University of
Delaware, an M.S. from Cornell in Crop Science, and his Ph.D. from the
University of Maryland in Botany-Plant Physiology.
We also acquired a new Senior Vice-President for Academic Affairs and
Provost, Dr. Edna M. Szymanski, formerly Dean of the College of
Education at the University of Maryland. Edna is a national leader in
the field of rehabilitation and as a researcher she was particularly
interested in the career development of people with disabilities. As
Provost she is now determining how to lead UMaine “to a vibrant future.”
Both of our new administrators visited all our laboratories in Hitchner
and Rogers Halls to view our facilities and to talk briefly with our
Faculty. They were then given a tour of the Diagnostic Laboratories,
the Small Animal Facility and taken to the Witter Center. Both were
impressed with our achievements in both teaching and research for the Maine
people.
Changes are also afoot in the academic
departments within NSFA. A plan is working its way through the
approval process to merge the Department of Resource Economics and Policy
with the Department of Economics. If approved, this unit will become
the School of Economics. Under the structure, the School will be
inter-collegiate, being both in the college of NSFA and the college of
Business, Pubic Policy and Health. While unique to New England, such
an organization has been in place at Iowa State University for over 70
years, and is widely recognized as one of the best departments in the
country. NSFA faculty will be able to retain their experiment
station appointments and continue to work with traditional clients. This
change has been approved by the faculty and is awaiting final approval by
the university administration. It has also been proposed to create a
School of Integrative Biology and Ecology to unite the university’s
strengths in organismal biology and ecology with an integrative approach.
This school will enhance integrative studies of the complex problems of
biology, maximize effectiveness in serving the central mission of biology,
the study of organisms, and build on the university’s strengths in ecology.
This faculty proposal has been submitted to the upper administration for
approval.
University of Maine Students Compete in the Northeast Regional
Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge
Waterloo, NY, October 19-21, 2006 – Five students from the University of
Maine Departments of Animal and Veterinary Sciences and Resource Economics
and Policy competed in the Northeast Regional Intercollegiate Dairy
Challenge held October 19-21, 2006, in Waterloo, NY. Cornell University
hosted 115 contestants from 14 universities from throughout the Northeastern
US and Canada.
The Dairy
Challenge is a two-day competition that enables students to apply theory and
learning to a working dairy farm, while working as part of a team. On the
first day, teams of 4 students receive production, financial and farm
management data. After an inspection of the farm, participants interviewed
the farm manager to then develop a farm analysis and presentation, which
included recommendations for nutrition, reproduction, milking procedures,
animal health, housing, labor and financial management. On the second day,
team members present recommendations to a panel of judges and then answer
questions from the judges. Presentations were evaluated, based on their
analysis and recommendations.
The three
students from the Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, all seniors
were, Ashley Bryant from Monroe, ME, Kari Canfield from Webster, NH and
Jennianne O’Connor of Middleboro, MA, The two students from the Department
of Resource Economics and Policy, both juniors were, Patrick Heacock from
Trenton, ME and Katelyn McCullock from East
Dummerston, VT. Coaching the team was Dr. David Marcinkowski,
Associate Professor and Extension Dairy Specialist.
Jennianne
O’Connor received the Platinum Award, which is the highest award in the
contest. Pat Heacock and Katelyn McCullock received Gold Awards for their
presentations and Ashley Bryant and Kari Canfield received Silver Awards.
Team members are looking forward to the North American Intercollegiate Dairy
Challenge competition to be held in Sioux Falls, SD in March of 2006.
Alumni Corner
Brittany Henderson Benn (1984)
Brittany says that it seems like only a
few years since she was at UMaine but that there have been a lot of
changes. Brittany taught high school agriculture and was an FFA advisor for
three years after graduation before becoming a substitute teacher, which
allows her to spend more time with her 5 year and 7 year old children. She
has had various part time jobs relating to agriculture and has been a
student at the UMaine compost school several times. She is an avid
gardener, loves being a mom, and feels that her life is never boring in “the
county.”
James Carroll (1994)
James has worked for IDEXX since
graduating from UMaine and until recently he spent part of his work time in
NJ and part in Maine. He is now their Worldwide Pathology Business manager
and has been moved to Ontario in an effort to expand IDEXX’s business
presence into Canada. On a sadder note, he and wife Melanie have decided to
divorce since they make better friends than spouses. Best of luck to you
both.
Ben Cole (1999)
Last December we described what Ben had
been doing since leaving Maine for the warmer climes of Florida. This
summer we received another message from Ben in which he pointed out that
there are many opportunities for graduates with species of animals that are
not usually covered in conventional Animal Science classes, such as
reptiles, birds, fish, snakes and other exotics. Ben is particularly
interested in offering a week long short course or even a summer internship
where one or two students could spend time in the rodent production barns,
spend some time in the snake barns, and then tour some different facilities
to learn about large scale exotics, venom processing, large scale feeder
rodent production, and other areas that are in need of Animal Science
knowledge and employees but as of yet are still overlooked. Anyone
interested in such an internship should contact Dr. Stokes at UMaine or Ben
at
bcherps@yahoo.com
Katherine Collett (2006)
Katherine moved to the Dover-Foxcroft area
this summer because her boyfriend had accepted a position at Foxcroft
Academy. Soon after this she accepted a position to work with MOFGA in
Unity as the Administrative Assistant for General Operations. She acts as
an aide to everyone in the office, including certification, educational
programs and managing the MOFGA email and snail mail. She feels that this is
working out well but she has considered going back to school to get a
masters degree so she could work in a job more closely related to Animal
Science, such as in Cooperative Extension.
Christa Currier Galipeau (1996)
Christa returned to Presque Isle after
graduation to become a Maine State Certified teacher for secondary
education. She married Scott Galipeau and then had a variety of jobs before
becoming an agriscience instructor at the Presque Isle Regional Career and
Technical Center. In January 2004 her twin daughters, Piper and Sierra,
were born and she continued teaching until spring 2006. She has now started
her own home tutoring business so she can tutor from home and spend much
more time with her girls.
Matthew Maiden (1988)
Matthew contacted us through the
departmental web site. After leaving UMaine he completes a Ph.D. in
Molecular and Cell Biology at Northwestern University in 1994. He then did a
post doc in vascular biology and atherosclerotic disease at the University
of Washington in Seattle before moving to Basel, Switzerland, where he works
for Roche Pharmaceuticals in drug discovery research. He commented that the
Maine Animal Club, the Orono Royal, and a work-study job at the Witter
Center were some of the highlights of a very special four years at UMaine.
Amy Ruksznis (2001)
Rucker Ruksznis played rugby at UMaine and
graduated from the Atlantic Veterinary College (PEI) in 2006. She was one
of several UMaine AVS grads at AVC including Erin Emmans (AVS 1999), Maggie
Vandenberg and Alex Ernst (AVS 2000). Erin now practices in Elkton,
Florida, Maggie in Red Bank, NJ and Alex is the zoo veterinarian at the Cape
May County Zoo in NJ. In his reply to a message from Dr. Stokes, Alex
commented that he still uses the same basic format for making oral
presentations the he was taught in AVS 401, Senior Topics. Amy lives in
Freeport and works with small animals at the North Deering Veterinary
Hospital. “I can’t believe I get paid to do this for a living.”
Christopher Rumsey (1997)
After graduating from UMaine, Chris worked
for Genex Cooperative as an AI Technician for about 6 years. He then
entered the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine where
he is currently a fourth year student. Earlier this fall he was able to
visit our senior topics class and the first year Issues and Opportunities
class to talk about his experiences at UMaine, with Genex, and studying to
become a physician. He has been interviewing for OB/GYN residencies in San
Antonio, TX; Tacoma, WA; Washington DC; Honolulu, HI; and Portland, ME. At
the time he visited us he was doing rotations in Maternal Fetal Medicine and
Gynecological Oncology in San Antonio.
Kimberly Townsend (2006)
Kim has taken an introductory management
position with Petsmart as a pet care manager in charge of all the
furry/spiny/scaley little critters while supervising 5 or 6 other workers.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Our very best wishes for a happy holiday
season to all our friends, alumni, emeriti and supporters wherever you may
be. We hope you will have a successful and rewarding 2007.
Congratulations
Extension Professor Rick Kersbergen of Burnham received the National Association
of County Agricultural Agents’ Distinguished Service Award at the NACAA annual
meeting and professional improvement conference in Cincinnati in late July. The
Distinguished Service Award is given for at least 10 years of exceptional
service to Cooperative Extension including the implementation of an effective
Extension program. In his 19 years of service, Rick’s research has been
instrumental in developing the organic dairy industry in Maine. He also
developed the training manual for the Maine nutrient management program and
served as coordinator for the USDA-funded Sustainable Agriculture Research and
Education program (SARE). He is now the leader of the joint UMaine-UNH
USDA-funded organic grant “Reducing off-farm grain inputs on northeast organic
dairy farms.” Congratulations Rick. |
