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HomeSIPS Director NewsMay update from SIPS Director Chris Smart

May update from SIPS Director Chris Smart

Dear SIPS Community,

Thank you! Every one of you continues to do your part to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in New York. Thanks to all that have worked so hard to bring our 59 courses online, you have done an amazing job.

Planning for campus reopening

I know many of you have questions about when we might return to campus and what instruction might look like in the fall. Short answer: we don’t know. Although New York State’s current stay at home order extends to May 15, it is not expected that campus will immediately reopen after that date. President Pollack has established ‘reopening committees’ and there is valuable information at the links below. You can anonymously provide feedback, comments and ask questions. Each committee will give a report to the President in either May or June.

SIPS is learning from the past 6 weeks and preparing for the future – while it is critical to know and follow university and college guidelines, there are things we can do to thoughtfully learn from our experiences to enable a more prepared future. A great strength of SIPS is that we have a breadth of knowledge and skillsets, and have the opportunity to share creative ideas and safety protocols across the school. Many faculty are chipping in to help share across units. Feel free to contact the folks listed (or me) if you have ideas or protocols to include or other areas where we can be coordinating.

  • Teaching resources group – Carlyn Buckler and Tom Silva will be pulling together resources from across Cornell and within SIPS.
  • Teaching survey – Carlyn Buckler will be sending those of you that are teaching in Fall 2020 a short survey to assess needs/concerns.
  • Graduate Students – Mike Scanlon will be coordinating with the SIPS Graduate Student Council and other DGS’ to be sure our students’ voices and ideas are heard.
  • Extension activities –Susan Hoskins and Jenny Kao-Kniffin are working on a toolkit for virtual extension programming.
  • Administrative staff – Andy Vail will be coordinating with Leslie Larsen and Tami Payne in Ithaca and collaborate with Lorraine Barry in Geneva.
  • SOPs – SIPS has collected example Standard Operating Procedures from across CALS and within SIPS (from our critical field research applications). We will be making these as well as other SOPs available online.

2019 – 2020 Faculty Search updates:

  • Plant synthetic biology: Candidate interviews are complete
  • Genomics-empowered biology of plant pathogenic fungi: Candidate interviews are complete
  • Physiology of fruit crop adaptation to climate change: Candidate interviews in process
  • Breeding for Sustainable Forage Cropping Systems: Candidate interviews in process

Congratulations to the following people who were recognized with a SIPS Kudos in the last month! Thanks for your effort and passion in support of SIPS.

  • Building Mastery & Skill: Amy Collins
  • Creativity & Ideas: Craig Cramer
  • Going Above & Beyond: Jessica Townley, Rebecca Wilk, Katie Straight, Cindy Twardokus, Tracy Chapman, Leslie Larsen, Tami Payne, Carlyn Buckler, Linda Cox, Greg Peck, Liam Wickes-Do, Ewa Smering, Craig Carlson, Travis Johns, Craig Cramer, Catalina Enright, Tara Reed, Matt Falise, Chris Pelzer.
  • Inspirational Leadership: Courtney Weber, Jan Nyrop, Gillian Turgeon, Steve Reiners, Carlyn Buckler.
  • Strong Team Spirit: Linda D’Amato, Magdalen Lindeberg, Mary McKellar

PLEASE remember to recognize people in our SIPS community that have gone out of their way to enhance our School. All you have to do is complete the brief form here

Take care,

Chris

SIPS Director News

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