We are almost halfway through the ARPAS officer year.

We are sad to say that Cornicha Henderson, who has been the ARPAS representative at FASS for the past two years, has resigned and moved to another position. We thank Cornicha for her service and wish her the best in the future. Until Cornicha’s position is filled, Cara Tharp is giving us excellent help.

I had the opportunity to attend the California ARPAS chapter meeting at Harris Ranch in late October. They had an excellent continuing education conference. One of the highlights was the presentations given by the graduate students who won the poster competition and ARPAS scholarships. Moe Bakke was able to get a photo of the winners and me (I’m the one in the middle).

We are fortunate that Al Kertz, the ARPAS president-elect, does a bit of international traveling in his work. Thanks to Al we have been able to make some initial contacts to hopefully develop collaborations with animal scientists in Europe and Asia. We are hoping these initial contacts will lead to international ARPAS chapters in the future.

Dave Beede has “hit the ground a runnin’” as the new editor-in-chief for the Professional Animal Scientist (renamed as Applied Animal Science). Be sure to read Dave’s column for all the good news concerning the journal. We are in the final days of the third year of our five-year agreement with Elsevier to publish the journal. We have established a committee comprised of Dave Beede, Al Kertz, Bob Wettemann, Dana Tomlinson, Wayne Kellogg, and John Bernard to begin the process of modifying the current agreement and renegotiating a new agreement that would begin in 2020. If you have any thoughts, feel free to contact one of the committee members or me for your ideas or suggestions.

Past-President John Bernard and the nominating committee will be putting together a list of nominees for president-elect and the northeast director soon. If John gives you a call, I urge you to agree to run for office.

Last year a committee chaired by Bob Wettemann developed a new five-year strategic plan for ARPAS. As part of that strategic plan, I formed a committee of outstanding ARPAS members to develop value propositions for ARPAS and ACAS. The committee consists of Moe Bakke, a private dairy consultant in Kentucky and California; Randy Walker with DPI Global; Wayne Greene, department chair at Auburn University; Mike Looper, department chair at the University of Arkansas; and Ben Holland, director of research for Cactus Cattle Feeders. I look forward to seeing what they put together over the next few months.

The ARPAS governing council and business meetings will be held this year in conjunction with the American Society of Animal Science in Austin, Texas. The exact dates are not yet confirmed, but tentatively the governing council meeting will be on Monday, July 8, and the ARPAS symposium and business meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 9. Al Kertz has put together an excellent group of speakers for the ARPAS symposium with the general topic of heat stress. The ACAS business meeting will also be held in Austin.

In 2018 the governing council voted to add a graduate student representative to the governing council. We will be sending emails to all graduate student members of ARPAS, asking them to nominate themselves or others to serve on the governing council. The winner will receive a $1,000 grant to cover their travel to the governing council meeting. Let us know of any outstanding graduate student you feel deserves to serve on the governing council.

Although we will not have a meeting at the American Dairy Science Association® (ADSA) meeting in Cincinnati in June, we will have a booth/exhibit and will be giving the ARPAS exam. If you will have some time during the ADSA meeting to help out at the ARPAS booth or help with giving the ARPAS exam, please let Kenneth Cummings or me know. We appreciate all the help we can get.

Unfortunately, over the past few years we have seen a significant decline in the number of corporate sponsors. I urge you to become a champion for ARPAS within your company and work to have your company as an ARPAS sponsor. To be a sponsor, contact Daniel Rivera at Mississippi State, the southern region director, for more information.

Remember it is that time of year to renew your ARPAS membership and to update your continuing education units. Both can be easily done online at the ARPAS website. If you have not already, also consider moving up to board certification to further enhance your credentials.

Again, I am truly honored to serve as the president of ARPAS. I want to thank again all the fine folks at FASS that are so helpful and our executive vice president Kenneth Cummings for keeping the officers and directors in line.

I look forward to an outstanding year for ARPAS and its members. All the best for a happy and successful new year.