Almost exactly 16 years to the day he started, Dean of CAFES Dale Gallenberg sent a message to the College in mid-May announcing his intention to retire. He will step down as Dean of CAFES effective October 1 and formally retire at the end of December. In his message to the College he said, "This is the best job I could ever have imagined, and that is because of you.”

Last week Provost David Travis announced that Dr. Dean Olson, Associate Dean and Professor of Agricultural Engineering will assume the role of Interim Dean. Dr. Brenda Boetel, Professor of Agricultural Economics, will step in as Interim Associate Dean. A national search for a new Dean will be launched later this summer with the hope to have someone in place by early spring 2023. 

Congratulations to Kelsey Cowart, Program Manager for the Ecological Restoration Institute. Kelsey is the recipient of the School Forest Champion Award, a state-wide award from the Wisconsin Learning, Experience and Activities in Forestry (LEAF) program.

There are 425 registered school forests in Wisconsin and we have two of them at UWRF. Kelsey has spearheaded efforts to plant more than 1000 trees, remove invasive species, establish trails and generally foster more awareness and use of the forests.

The Institute is funded by the Environmental Studies Opportunity Fund, created and supported by donors to the UWRF Foundation. Read more.

UWRF received just over $260,000 in support from the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin this spring, to enhance our water-related academic programs. These funds will allow us to engage more students in the Ecological Restoration Institute, build research capacity in the area of water quality research at the Mann Valley Farm, and get students out in fields, lakes and streams doing stream assessments and enhancing their understanding of hydrology and hydrogeology. 

One of the first initiatives was a 2-week summer field course that immersed students from multiple campuses in learning field and laboratory skills to assess freshwater science investigations in geology, biology, geography, and agriculture. They covered issues like water contamination, agricultural water management, eutrophication, and groundwater-surface water interaction. Read more.

Dr. Grace Lewis, one of our new faculty members affiliated with the Wisconsin Dairy Innovation Hub, is off and running with three different projects investigating potential new uses for milk ingredients and byproducts. One study involves optimizing the process of using casein proteins as an encapsulation compound in the food or pharmaceutical industries. Another is a collaboration with Dr. Youngmi Kim in engineering to see if whey proteins from milk might be used to create biodegradable food packaging. Starting this fall, Grace will also be working with colleagues at UW-Madison to research the use of a milk lactose-derived sweetener in various foods.

In addition to research she teaches courses in dairy manufacturing and food science, and coaches the Dairy Products Evaluation Team. This past spring she took UWRF’s first team to the 98^th National Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation Contest where they did quite well. Read more.