The Demeter organization, a nonprofit organization that focuses on providing support for CALS undergraduate students, held its annual Corn Roast Picnic in September to welcome new CALS faculty as well as students supported by Demeter awards. Demeter President Laura Hernandez, professor of animal and dairy sciences, thanked members for all their contributions to student support and their work over the years, such as making caps and scarves that are donated for cancer patients at UW Hospitals and Clinics.

Dean Glenda Gillaspy foretold a bright future for CALS by introducing new administrative leaders Paul Mitchell, interim associate dean for academic affairs, and Irwin Goldman, interim senior associate dean. In addition to many recently hired world-class faculty, two additional faculty positions are in the works that will focus on artificial intelligence and environmental sustainability.

Further, Dean Gillaspy referenced a new UW-Madison hiring initiative from which CALS will surely benefit. CALS currently has ~2700 undergraduates and ~1000 graduate students. The goal is to increase undergraduates to ~5000 in the next few years. To that end, CALS just hired a director of student recruiting and outreach and will add a finance scholarship person to enable offering scholarships to incoming students. This will leverage Demeter’s generosity to help CALS recruit more students.

Ashley Hagenow, the 2023-24 Alice in Dairyland, told of her work traveling around Wisconsin as the official DATCP Wisconsin Agriculture Ambassador. Alice promotes Wisconsin’s diverse and abundant agriculture industry to a wide variety of audiences and demographics.

To learn more about Demeter and its support of CALS go to https://demeterwi.org.