I grew up in southern part of Illinois or south central Illinois on a family farm.
That farm continues to be an operation and it was a very transformational part of,
I think my experiences that get me here today. So one of the things that's remained the same across agriculture
in the last 30, 35 years is the commitment of people to making a difference in agriculture.
Whether it's an extension, whether it's teaching undergraduate students, whether it's conducting research,
that has not changed,
and I hope that that never changes
and see no reason that it does.
In May of 2005, I became head of Ag and Biological Engineering.
and really began to think about how do we move this program ahead.
There was a huge opportunity at that time with new faculty coming in, new energy coming into the program.
And we began to build and we began to elevate trust, working together
so that we grew the program, and it happened then that rankings came along.
So we quickly moved from unranked or a place that was not so highly favored in the rankings to being
the very top spot and continued in that position for much of the next ten years, both undergraduate and graduate programs.
As I got to the end of about 14 years as head of Ag and Biological Engineering, the question naturally began to arise what's next?
So the right opportunity at Purdue was coming along at that time, Associate Dean for Ag Research.
It was a very, very natural change to say that would be a really interesting job
and it would be a really interesting job at Purdue, a place that I have been committed to remain committed to.
So touching on some of the high points of my career,
probably one of those would certainly be the many graduate students that I've worked with
and had impact on over the years, and they've certainly had impact on me, on my career, things that I continue to work on.
And even being here today.
So to me, that's one of the real joys of watching them do things that you could never imagine.
It's always great to be able to talk about all the great things going on in the Purdue College of Agriculture.
So people that know me know that I can't help but talk about rankings.
Purdue Agriculture. Five in the World. Three in the Nation.
A place that we certainly should be and will continue to strive to improve upon that.
We have great programs across the board.
But if we look at a few that certainly hit this greatest kind of mark, Ag and Biological Engineering,
digital forestry, one that we've been working on and growing recently,
plant phenotyping, our ag econ program strengths, but we have strengths across the board
that will have others moving into this very top group,
as we look into future years.
One of the reasons I continue to be passionate about Purdue and
Purdue Agriculture is because of the way we live the land grant mission.
Research, super important, super visible within the university now, but equally important,
are undergraduate education, our extension programs and innovation entrepreneurship in these spaces.
We have a bright, bright future given those strengths in our current position.
Thinking back to some 35 years ago,
I had just been hired as an assistant professor here at Purdue in Ag Engineering.
My daughter's playing with some of her playmates,
about five years old at that time, and was talking about that
someday my dad will get a real job
And I don't believe she thinks that I have a real job yet
because of the passion I have for this job and for Purdue Agriculture.
It'll never be a job. It'll be a passion.