A Message from Dean Wendy Wintersteen
February 10th, 2012
This week I notified AgriSol Energy that the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences would no longer serve in an advisory capacity to its planning for its proposed project in Tanzania.
I ended the College’s advising role because much of our time and energy has been directed at countering misrepresentations about why and how we were involved. It has not been directed at what originally compelled us to explore program development in Tanzania — the role agricultural education can play in helping small farmers and families struggling against poverty and hunger.
The advice we provided to AgriSol was grounded in the lessons learned — and the partnerships forged — in rural Uganda. The impact our Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods has had in transforming lives of rural Ugandans has been extraordinary. We cannot be prouder of the efforts of our faculty, students and Ugandan partners. Our students themselves have been transformed as they’ve experienced the world through the eyes of others and taken classroom information into a practical global setting.
Thank you for sharing comments and questions to me. Also, thanks to those who expressed support and encouragement for the College’s goals and mission. I have appreciated your feedback and thoughts.
Dean Wendy Wintersteen