Current Leadership
ARPAS Midwest Director: Randy Walker
Midwest Chapter President: Aaron Park
Midwest Chapter President-Elect: Rick Bonander
Midwest Chapter Past President: Bruce Arentson
Midwest Chapter Secretary-Treasurer: Wendy Flatt
Midwest Chapter Directors: Phil Krueger, Chad Risley, Joe Wolf, Jim Edwards, Bob Coleman, Elizabeth Marvel, and Stephanie Wisdom
The Midwest region of ARPAS and the Midwest Chapter of ARPAS continue to be active in building and supporting ARPAS membership through engaging candidate members at animal and dairy science technical meetings and through targeted sponsorships and ARPAS presentations.
Midwest Chapter elections were completed June 16, 2017. The president elect and three new directors began their terms July 1, 2017. The Midwest Chapter of ARPAS has 235 members as of June 2017, an increase of 67 members over a year ago.
The Midwest ARPAS chapter sponsored a booth at the Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference, April 17–19, 2017, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The chapter also sponsored the Monday evening dinner for students and their advisors who participated in the student presentation conference and presented a short program detailing the benefits of ARPAS membership. Twelve ARPAS exams were given at the meeting.
On June 14–15, 2017, the Midwest ARPAS Chapter sponsored a booth at the 4-State Dairy Nutrition Conference in Dubuque, Iowa. Seven exams were given at the meeting.
At the Equine Science Symposium in May–June, 2017, Judy Reynolds attended the ARPAS booth and provided an opportunity to take the ARPAS exam.
To gauge ARPAS members’ interest in a professional development symposium, Aaron Park led the development of a survey during the summer of 2016. Response to the survey was good and indicated a positive response toward development of a professional development symposium by the ARPAS Midwest Chapter.
The ARPAS Midwest Chapter board has now organized a Professional Development Conference for Entrepreneurs to be held in conjunction with the Minnesota Nutrition Conference. The half-day personal development conference will be held September 19, 2017, the afternoon prior to the start of the Minnesota Nutrition Conference. Speakers’ topics include behavior styles, emotional intelligence, and relationship skills.
In September 2016, the Midwest Chapter and the ARPAS Foundation sponsored the first annual Graduate Student Poster Competition at the Minnesota Nutrition Conference. Eight graduate students from two states participated in the contest and four of them took the ARPAS exam. The ARPAS Midwest Chapter and the ARPAS Foundation will sponsor the second annual Graduate Student Poster Competition at the Minnesota Nutrition Conference September 20–21, 2017.