Dear SIPS Community,

I realize there is much stress and anxiety caused by the election on top of everything else happening in the world. Cornell has provided resources that we all should be aware of, some can be found here and others below. Please do find ways to reduce stress.

• Cornell Votes
• Intergroup Dialogue Project Election Guide
• How Faculty Can Support Students During COVID
• Notice & Respond: Assisting Students in Distress Fall 2020 Edition
• Counseling and Psychological Services

Congratulations!

• Joyce Chery receives IW Bailey Award
• Anne Kearney Logan chosen NextGen Professor
• Eight Plant Science Majors recognized as ASHS Scholars

SIPS is launching a Strategic Planning process to guide our direction for the next 5-10 years. The Executive Committee hopes that all SIPS members will take time to participate in the survey going out this week! I will be sending the survey via email to everyone in SIPS. Please spend time to thoughtfully answer the questions. I promise that I will read each of your answers carefully and they will help inform our new strategic plan.

Spring 2021 course roster. Leah Cook and I are working on the Spring 2021 course roster, and we would like to thank instructors for taking the time to email your plans and/or meet with us last week. It looks like somewhere around 60% of our courses will have an in-person component. We will continue to update instructors as we gain more information.

Staffing update. With the departure of SIPS admin Mandy Kafka to Food Science, I’d like to remind anyone who relied on her for assistance (chiefly Hort and PPPMB) that they can contact Catalina Enright cle46@cornell.edu (607-255-2246) with any administrative needs, including, but not limited to help with eShop or ordering supplies, printing/copying, and Canvas support.

SIPS diversity and inclusion. anyone can Report a Bias Incident by clicking that link (also prominently displayed on the SIPS home page)

Fall Semester Updates

Two weeks of in-person class left in the fall semester! The last day of in-person class is November 13. November 14-16 are semi-final study days – no classes. Instruction resumes – all classes online – on Monday November 30.

• The Cornell Covid-19 update website has all of the most recent information as well as a link to the Covid-19 tracking dashboard.
• SIPS has allocated student study spaces that can be reserved at the following link Note that students and anyone else in SIPS can reserve rooms under the Plant Science/Mann and Bradfield/Emerson pull down on this page. https://sips-cornell.libcal.com/spaces?lid=11619
• There are bookable rooms across the university that are available on: https://chatter.cornell.edu

Renovation

Plans for Bradfield and Plant Science renovation continue to move forward. For the Bradfield project, the contract with Welliver has been signed. Construction work will begin in December.  Facilities and admin managers have been working with PIs to facilitate the initial moves. Some moves will begin next week with an external moving company, my understanding is that the CALS move team will be involved as well. Floors 3, 4, and 5 will vacate for the duration of the project – I know this is difficult and is a huge inconvenience. An updated, detailed schedule of work is forthcoming.

2019 – 2020 Faculty Search updates:

• Physiology of fruit crop adaptation to climate change: The final interviews are complete. We hope to have good news next month.

Congratulations to the following people who were recognized with a SIPS Kudos in the last month! There has been an increase in the number of kudos in the past several months, no doubt due to folks putting in extra effort during these difficult times. Thanks for your effort and passion in support of SIPS.

• Building Mastery and Skill: Danielle Bushnell, Jenn Thomas-Murphy, Travis Johns
• Creativity and ideas: Brittany Daigle, Leslie Larsen
• Going Above & Beyond:
  • Anya Osatuke, Chris DeLong, Jenna Rice, Christine Cioletti, Charles Bierden, Joshua Knecht, Craig Cramer, Jessica Townley, John Hill, Kate Keagle, Kevin Myers, Tamara Payne, Tom Silva, Travis Johns
  • Cornell Hemp Team (George, Jacob, Craig, Ali, Patrick, Colin, Garrett, Deanna, Savanna, Allison, Teagan, Jamie, Jesse, Jason, Ryan)
  • All the parents of school age children – going WAY above and beyond!
• Inspirational Leadership: Gillian Turgeon, Gregory Peck, Steve Reiners, Thomas Björkman, Josh Balles, Tami Payne
• Strong Team Spirit: Josh Balles, Danielle Bushnell, Tara Reed, Andrea Gilbert, Michele Blackmore, Mike Brown

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