I hope that you have all enjoyed the mid-term break. It is good to take things easy for a couple of days, or at least to have less routine pressure.

Following a successful faculty meeting last Friday, we can expect to hear more about assessment and
also about the schedule and process for the GSC review in 2016-17.
 
The deans are developing a new strategic planning effort for OSU, and there will be a call for input and comments once this matures a little.

Graduates

A real point of pride for the department is the number of highly regarded dissertations written and completed since March 2016 (and more on the way!) As of to day I want to pay tribute to the following: Rachel Mauk (advisor Jay Hobgood), Hyeyoung Kim (Ningchuan Xiao), Shaun Fontanella (Ola Ahlqvist), Yuxi Zhao (Darla Munroe), Calvin Tribby (Harvey Miller), Chris Hartmann (Becky Mansfield), Ying Song (Harvey Miller).

Scott Stuckman (Jialin Lin) from the Environmental Sciences Graduate Program (ESGP) has also completed his final oral defense and will graduate soon. As you will notice there is an excellent cross sectional representation from all areas of the department and we are very proud of these accomplishments. Many of these dissertations have led to recognition and awards, and publications and they represent are at the heart of our efforts to produce new knowledge.

Please bring other cases and news to my attention.