A new era will begin at the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) when Kathryn "Kate" VandenBosch assumes the position of Dean on March 1.
The current chair of the Biology department at the University of Minnesota thus becomes the thirteenth dean of the prestigious education and research college dating to W.A. Henry, who served from 1891 to 1907.
She succeeds Bill Tracy, who served as interim dean since Molly Jahn stepped down on Jan. 1, 2011 after serving in the position for five years.
I recently had the opportunity to visit with Kathryn VandenBosch, or "Kate" as she prefers, during her short visit to Wisconsin when she did a bit of visiting and people-meeting prior to officially beginning her job as dean.
VandenBosch was born in Alma, MI, a small town in the center of the lower peninsula where her father worked as an administrator at Alma College, a small liberal arts college located in her home town.
She graduated from Kalamazoo College and gained her M.S. and Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst.
Since 2001 she has served as chair of the University of Minnesota, Department of Botany after moving from the Texas A&M Department of Botany, where she was a faculty member for 12 years.
Kate is not a total stranger to Wisconsin: In 1986 to 1988 she was a post-doctoral Associate at the University of Wisconsin Department of Botany.
During that time she met and married Tom Frantz, who has a M.S. in Agronomy from the Wisconsin College of Agriculture. The couple have two children, Geoff (22) and Leah (20), both who are college students.
VandenBosch has a long list of publications based on her research that includes work in genetics, diseases, growth and cell development on crops ranging from peanuts, to tobacco, to soybeans and alfalfa.
She says her most recent research has centered on a close relative of alfalfa, studying root development and growth, using the new science of genomics.
"How are you going to approach your new challenge?" I asked.
"On many fronts, I hope, " Kate begins. "The diversity of the college is what makes it such an exciting place. There are many different educational programs and there are so many strengths in the research areas....and outreach is so very important. "
Indeed, the University of Wisconsin College of Agriculture has many and big challenges as it has had for the well over 100 years of its existence.
Some history - The college officially dates to 1889, but, it has its roots in the Congressional act of 1862 when the system of "land grant" colleges was established to create a national educational network devoted to agriculture and mechanics.
Wisconsin received 240,000 acres of land, which it sold for $1.25 per acre. The legislature used the money at the then-new University of Wisconsin to carry out the land grant directive.
Today the college includes 19 academic departments spanning four areas: agriculture, natural resources, social science and life sciences, says Heidi Zoerb, Assistant Dean for External Relations and provider of any and all information about CALS.
They range from agronomy to community and environmental sociology to food science to urban and regional planning.
The biggest department in terms of students is Biology with 1,237, the smallest is Poultry Science with but three students.
There are over 3,600 students of which 2,600 are under grads, 965 grad students and 130 Farm and Industry Short Course students. In 2010 there were 604 Bachelors degrees, 98 Masters degrees and 120 Ph.D.'s awarded.
Today CALS ranks at the top among the land grant colleges in Scientific Impact and first in scholarly productivity in animal science, food science and plant sciences and among the top three in six of the 14 areas ranked by the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Every past student probably has at least a few memories of past deans who served CALS. I have known the past half dozen or so of the previous 12 Deans and remember some things well but admittedly have little knowledge of their success as a Dean.
Glenn Pound, a longtime U.W. plant pathologist, who was dean from 1964 to 1979, was a popular leader. And, who could forget his droll jokes, told in his Arkansas accent, that crept into most all of his speeches.
Leo Walsh (1979 - 1991) was a longtime soil scientist who had visited many of Wisconsin's farms prior to becoming Dean. He was a farmer at heart who talked "farmer language." Leo is often seen at CALS events.
Neal Jorgensen actually retired from CALS as executive associate dean but shortly thereafter, returned as dean for two years (1997 - 1998).
The Polk County farm boy, raised at Luck, (facts which he always reminded audiences of) was known on every Wisconsin dairy farm from his many years as a popular and knowledgeable member of the Dairy Science Department.
Elton "Abe" Aberle came east from the University of Nebraska, where he was head of the Animal Science Department, to serve as dean at CALS from 1998 - 2005.
Abe liked people and often attended farm meetings just to listen and learn.
And, of course Molly Jahn, (2006 - 2010) is well known in the ag community for her dynamic character and for building the dairy barn at Arlington by using the DBA as contractor. The 500-cow barn went up on schedule, was built at a good price and will stand for decades.
Money is always a challenge and the new dean well recognizes the competition for dollars on the federal, state and local levels.
The CALS total budget is over $196 million and along with the rest of the U.W., some faculty positions have been unfilled. research programs unfunded and tuitions increased.
William "Bill" Tracy, has served as "interim dean" for 14 months and will return to the Agronomy department on March 1.
In an open letter to the state, Tracy pointed out the "declining state support for postsecondary education and its devastating effect on our young people...when the state fails to support the university, it gets the needed revenue by charging students and their families more...when tuition increases, fewer students from middle-class and financially pressed families can afford to attend UW-Madison."
"Supporting our agricultural communities means supporting higher education," Tracy says. "My hope is that ...undergraduate education gets the attention and resources that our young people and our state deserve."
Kate VandenBosch will now take up that challenge: "I am going to learn the many different aspects of the college," she says. "And, in the course of the next year we are going to develop a strategic framework for determining our priorities...working with the legislature and public means making relationships and getting to know people, and I really look forward to that. "
"I have a lot of questions and I'm a good listener," she adds.
And, if first impressions mean anything, this quiet, rather unassuming women, will listen well, cogitate in depth and act with strength.
John F Oncken is owner of Oncken Communications, a Madison-based agricultural information and consulting company. He can be reached at 608-222-0624 or
e-mail him at
jfodairy@chorus.net.
