The Ohio State University Department of Animal Sciences has a rich tradition and has made many contributions to food-animal agriculture in the state of Ohio and beyond. With the dramatic changes that are occurring in all segments of food-animal agriculture, we are challenged to be at the cutting edge to best serve society.
The department is in the process of developing a strategic plan to shape the areas of extension/outreach/engagement, research, and teaching on which the department will focus in the future. The department has accomplished much in the strategic planning that has already been performed. Working with the Animal Sciences Visionary Team, composed of faculty members and industrial partners, however, we will finalize our strategic plan. Without question, there will be continued focus in this department on production efficiency of food animals (cattle, pigs, poultry, and sheep). Other areas that the department is giving strong consideration to are socially responsible and environmentally compatible food-animal management, safety and quality of food-animal products, and understanding the regulation of genes to help in controlling the efficiency of production and the quality and safety of the products that we harvest from food-producing animals. Our department is in the process of hiring faculty members to pursue some of these new areas of study. Indeed, we in land-grant institutions are facing the same challenges that the production segments of agriculture are facing – we need to make wise changes in order to maintain our productivity and efficiency. We also need to remain flexible, so that we can continue to make changes in the future to best serve our stakeholders. The extent to which we continue to serve as we have in the past and to what extent we focus on new areas will be the primary goal of the Animal Sciences Visionary Team. New faces will continue to appear in the Research and Reviews, along with changes in the descriptions of the activities of existing faculty so that we can make the changes to better serve our stakeholders.
A question we are frequently asked is to what extent do we intend to expand the scope of the Department of Animal Sciences beyond food-animal production. We have had programs in the equine science area for several years and plans are to continue this program. To what extent we expand into other areas, whether it be new areas of food-animal production or other areas such as companion animal sciences, will be a topic of discussion by our Animal Sciences Visionary Team. Regardless of the programs on which we choose to focus or expand, significant changes will be occurring in the Department of Animal Sciences at The Ohio State University. Whatever we do in changing the department, we want to have a program that is very strong in educating the many students who choose our department to pursue their education. Several of the new faculty members will focus on serving students. We believe that if we have faculty who are dedicated to providing high-quality educational opportunities to our students that we will continue to have a strong student body in the Department of Animal Sciences at The Ohio State University.
My first two months at Ohio State have been very stimulating. I am enjoying working with the faculty and staff and having more students on campus for the academic year. My focus will continue to be on the faculty and the staff members of this department because, in order to serve our students and stakeholders in an efficient and effective fashion, we must have faculty and staff members who are functioning in an effective and efficient manner. My secondary focus is on leading the Animal Science Building Initiative to develop facilities that are of similar quality to those of our neighboring land-grant institutions. I look forward to working with the citizens in the state of Ohio in our educational and building initiatives.
James E. Kinder
Chair