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____________________________________________
MONTHLY
UPDATE
News for C-FAR Members
Illinois Council on Food and Agricultural
Research
May/June 2008
* SPECIAL
LAST MINUTE ADDITION TO THIS UPDATE *
Regarding the State of Illinois' FY09 budget (including
of course this next year's C-FAR appropriation), while I
referenced the development of this budget below when I wrote
this update a few days ago, there remains a flurry of budget
negotiations taking place in the Statehouse. New developments
were being learned as recently as late last night and will
continue in earnest today.
While a budget may still be reached during the next 48
hours, allowing the General Assembly to adjourn this weekend,
as of this morning (May 30), there are a number of substantive
issues that need to be resolved.
Your C-FAR leaders remain very attuned to these developments,
and we will of course be sharing with you definitive outcomes
as they are learned.
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * *
Greetings from C-FAR. Highlights of the past month include…
FY08 APPROPRIATION
RELEASED
As was shared with you earlier this month, the FY08 C-FAR
appropriation was released. Obviously, we are grateful to
the Governor and Members of the Illinois General Assembly
for reaching a resolution to this critically important matter.
It will take a bit for several of our research initiatives
to get "re-started" (as they were put on-hold
until this funding was released). While I am not yet familiar
with every situation, we are not expecting the delay to
result in any long-term repercussion. We should most certainly
be able to work through any adjustments that may be necessary
to ensure these research initiatives are carried out as
originally intended.
FY09 C-FAR APPROPRIATION
State of Illinois officials gave considerable attention
to the development of Illinois' FY09 budget this past month.
While there are various budget versions being deliberated,
one House-sponsored appropriation bill includes a $5.7 million
C-FAR appropriation (an increase over the current FY08 appropriation
of $4.5 million). C-FAR leaders have and will continue to
be engaged as this budget process continues.
The time frame for an agreement being reached on the FY09
budget is not certain. The Illinois General Assembly was
originally scheduled to adjourn May 29, but that was extended
to this weekend.
UNIVERSITY LEADER
SHIFTS
I thought you might be interested in the following recent
leadership changes at our university partners:
Samuel Goldman - has been appointed SIUC's Interim Chancellor
(replacing Fernando Treviño).
Bridget Owen - is the National Soybean Research Laboratory's
new Associate Director at UIUC. She replaces Pradeep Khanna
who assumed a new position on UIUC's campus as Associate
Vice Chancellor for Public Engagement and Executive Director,
Office of Corporate Relations.
Robert (Rob) Rhykerd - will continue to serve as the Interim
Chair of ISU's Department of Agriculture for the 2008-2009
year.
John Phelps - retires May 31 as Chair of the SIUC Department
of Forestry. John has been a stalwart C-FAR advocate and
we wish him the very best in his very deserved retirement.
Jim Zaczek has been named the department's Interim Chair.
As we look to the month of June…
FY09 APPROPRIATION
ANTICIPATION
In anticipation of the FY09 C-FAR appropriation being enacted,
we will begin to give preliminary considerations to:
External Competitive Grants Program - During February
and March, the working groups prioritized the 27 full proposals
submitted to this program (these full proposals were invited
from an initial 80 pre-proposals submitted). With this program
being funded at 15% of the total appropriation (per the
legislation), the appropriation's level directly drives
the number of initiatives which will be funded. We'll look
at scenarios regarding the number of the highest prioritized
proposals we can fund.
As I shared earlier this spring, per working group participant
feedback, this was a very strong set of full proposals.
The five working groups identified close to half of these
proposals as being highly desirable to fund.
Strategic Research Initiative (SRI) Program - Should
the FY09 appropriation be $5.5 million or higher, we will
be able to re-visit the preliminary direction of the Research
Committee and Board of Directors of seeking new SRIs to
fund in FY09. The current 2008 fiscal year is the final
year of funding for the last of three SRIs in the most recent
round of these initiatives. There is widespread support
for this research program continuing, as it provides a sound
balance to other initiatives funded through the External
Program and individual programs at each of our university
partners.
In General - We will be penciling scenarios for
the overall allocation of FY09 funds which will be considered
by the Board of Directors at their July meeting.
DEVELOPMENT OF FY09
BUDGETS
Along similar financial lines, several budgets will be given
preliminary consideration in June.
Administrative office and 1% Member Expense accounts
- both will be guided by the level of the FY09 appropriation.
As I recommend these budgets to the Board, our key priorities
will remain being focused on research reporting and accountability
measures, membership supporting services, and a variety
of communications for the members' and general public's
benefit. The Board will consider these budgets at their
July meeting.
Dues-based membership accounts - consisting of two
accounts entitled Legislative and Non-Legislative, these
accounts are funded almost entirely by membership dues.
These accounts enable a myriad of legislative-related and
various outreach and industry-wide support initiatives.
The budgets for these accounts will be developed by the
Board and provided to the Voting Delegates of Organizational
members for consideration and adoption later this summer.
SPEAKING OF MEMBERSHIPS
We are grateful that 93% of our Organization and Affiliate
members and 85% of our Individual members have renewed their
membership to date in 2008. We anticipate these few more
renewals to complete this membership year. There have also
been several new members already in 2008 - 3 Organizational
and 13 Individual members have enlisted and added their
support. Each of these memberships is critical to the vibrancy
of the dues-based membership budgets I referenced above.
And it is not too late… new Individual members remain
welcome!
YOUR C-FAR PROFILE
Please note…
if you are a representative of an Organizational or Affiliate
member, and/or an Individual member, we anticipate sending
you a highly important communication during the latter part
of June - your Personal Information Profile.
This communication serves several purposes, including confirmation
or updating of your contact information and your representative
role to C-FAR. Upon receiving this communication, please
take a few minutes to review it and respond (or contact
our office should you have any questions).
SCIENTIFIC SURVEYS
TO UIUC?
In the Governor's February Budget Address, it was proposed
that the four State Scientific Surveys (State Geological
Survey, State Water Survey, Natural History Survey, and
the Waste Management and Research Center) be transferred
from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to the
University of Illinois. Professionals at each of these surveys
have contributed quite significantly to C-FAR research as
either the principal investigator or co-principal investigator.
The legislation introduced to enable the transfer of these
surveys to the UIUC campus is SB970; and it would create
and fund an Institute of Natural Resources Sustainability.
A recent UIUC communication indicates that if this legislation
is approved, the Institute would be a unit on the UIUC campus
and will be housed in space presently assigned to the four
surveys.
UIUC EMAIL ADDRESS
CHANGE
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has announced
the email address for its faculty, staff and students is
changing from @uiuc.edu to @illinois.edu. This change is
now effective (although email sent to @uiuc.edu will be
forwarded to an individuals' new @illinois.edu address).
Therefore, if you have UIUC colleagues in your email directory,
for any that currently end in @uiuc.edu, you will want to
change these addresses to the new @illinois.edu. This includes
yours truly and my staff. My new email address is wagenech@illinois.edu.
Although our state's producers have been delayed in their
planting due to the frequency of rain this past month, let's
hope for some good periods of sunshine so that they can
get planting wrapped up very soon.
All our best.
Kraig
Go Cubbies!
_______________________________________________________
Kraig A. Wagenecht, Executive Administrator
Illinois Council on Food & Agricultural Research (C-FAR)
1101 W. Peabody Drive
Urbana, IL 61801
217.244.4232
Fax: 217.244.8594
e-mail: wagenech@illinois.edu
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