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Behind the Desk: Conversations with our Department Chairs
Six months into what TSU College of Agriculture Dean Dr. Chandra Reddy has often called the “historic” restructuring of the College from two academic departments to five, AgLink took a moment to check in with the (predominantly) new department chairs. We went “behind the desk” with Drs. Veronica Oates, Bharat Pokharel, Korsi Dumenyo, Prabodh Illukpitiya, and Samuel Nahashon to hear from them on how their respective projects to develop, buildout, and recruit for the now five TSUAg departments is going. Here’s what we found out:
Department of Environmental Science - Dr. Bharat Pokharel - Chair
New Department of Environmental Science Chair Dr. Bharat Pokharel is not alone in celebrating the College’s departmental restructuring. Dr. Pokharel and his colleagues in the newly established Department of Environmental Science are basking in the glow of self-determination, celebrating that they of the same mind when it comes to issues of curriculum development, student recruitment and retention, and departmental structuring. And while Dr. Pokharel is the first to admit that they are only just beginning their work, he’s excited with the progress they’ve already made.
Dr. Pokharel, who has served the College in a leadership role as the graduate student coordinator, takes over as Chair of one of the TSUAg’s smallest departments. That said, the job of establishing departmental leadership, building committees, taking the reins on environmental student mentoring is no small task, but one that Dr. Pokharel and the department as a whole is embracing. The challenge of balancing the department’s respective teaching, research, and Extension responsibilities is all part of the early planning process according to Dr. Pokharel.
Like the other new departments, Dr. Pokharel and the Environmental Science leadership is examining the possibility of adding both a Ph.D. and Bachelor of Science degree programs to their lone master’s degree-level degree program. Depending on how the group does with recruitment in the coming semesters, the Ph.D. program may end up being developed first, says Dr. Pokharel. The size of both the undergraduate student body and that of the Environmental Science graduate students enables him to be optimistic about the prospect of building out the department’s degree offerings. Growth will be a challenge, but it’s one Dr. Pokharel and the folks at Environmental Science are ready to take on with gusto.
Department of Food and Animal Science - Dr. Samuel Nahashon - Chair
In trading out his position as the Chair of the now-reshaped Department of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences (now the Department of Agricultural Sciences and Engineering), for his new role leading the Department of Food and Animal Sciences, Dr. Samuel Nahashon has brought a wealth of experience to the new department. As the Chair of the Department of Food and Animal Sciences, Dr. Nahashon still heads one of the larger departments at the College. And while it’s still large, the fact that the 14 faculty members and scores of undergraduate and graduate students in the Department Food and Animal Sciences are able to better focus on their discipline post-restructuring is important for Dr. Nahashon.
Making the job easier too is the buy-in Dr. Nahashon has received from faculty members who have enthusiastically greeted the creation of the department. The group now sets to the task of establishing a new Ph.D. in Food and Animal Sciences degree offering that will complement its master’s degree program. With that degree offering established, Dr. Nahashon and his team will then turn to the undergraduate offering
After years of managing a stable, strong, large academic unit with a predictably strong track record of enrollment and productivity, taking on the task of building out the new department and developing the curriculum, faculty infrastructure, and structure for a brand-new undergraduate degree program certainly presents a new kind of challenge for Dr. Nahashon. The department’s new strategic planning committee is leading the effort to create a five-year growth plan that Dr. Nahashon and the Department of Food and Animal Sciences’ leadership can lean on in executing their project to grow their new department. For that to happen, the department will rely on the focused enthusiasm the group is feeling, after all, according to Dr. Nahashon, “everybody has to contribute for the program to grow.”
Department of Agricultural Business and Education - Dr. Prabodh Illukpitiya - Chair
Just months into his term as the Chair of the newly established Department of Agricultural Business and Education, Dr. Prabodh Illukpitiya’s first task as the head of the program was to reign in the excitement bubbling about his fellow agribusiness and ag education faculty members that was generated when the program was established. Having their own dedicated agricultural business and education department meant Dr. Illukpitiya and his colleagues had the blessing and burden of self-determination; the department was blessed with the freedom to grow the department as they saw fit, but also the responsibility to ensure the new program would deliver on its core mission: serving the student body.
One semester into the project to build out the program, Dr. Illukpitiya’s drive continues to be building a foundation on which TSUAg’s agribusiness and education program can grow. Beginning with the creation of a host of new committees to help oversee the program and continuing to explore introducing a new undergraduate B.S. program, the affable Dr. Illukpitiya has a full plate, to be sure.
And while a successful creation of the agricultural business and leadership M.S. program will guide plans to later develop a Ph.D. program, the process of bringing that program to bear crowds that plate even further. Undeterred, Dr. Illukpitiya and his team’s first prioritized creating the mission, strategic goals, and objectives by which the new department would evaluate itself. With that accomplished, Dr. Illukpitiya can now set to the long-term goal of his department going forward, the recruitment and retention of students. And while student recruitment and retention is a difficult, work-intensive, important task, that he has the support of his colleagues in the new Department of Agricultural business and Education makes all the difference.
Department of Human Science - Dr. Veronica Oates - Chair
For Department of Human Sciences chair Dr. Veronica Oates, the College’s shift from two to five departments offers the department the opportunity to reinvent itself. The Department of Human Science, colloquially known as “The People-Centered Sciences,” is looking to build on the research front, adding some new research-focused faculty members. “It’s an exciting time to be in Human Sciences, we’re in a period of growth,” she says.
Dr. Oates’ primary target for one such addition would be in family studies research. Adding a gerontology researcher is also in the cards. One thing that’s clear is that Human Sciences is consolidating its multifaceted personnel from across the Agriculture Education complex to Humphries Hall, which will now serve as ground zero for the department.
At its core, Human Sciences is going strong, sporting a 7:1 student-to-faculty ratio, spawning strong student organizations like the new TSU Fashion Society, and offering bigger and better scholarships backed by Dr. Oates’ and Human Sciences’ participation in the USDA NextGen Workforce Development program, which has helped support the department’s many study abroad activities to places like Japan, Italy, and England. Curriculum changes and alterations to the department’s offerings are on the table, as is a potential push from Human Sciences to reclaim the TSU Early Childhood program, which once fell under Oates’ purview but is currently housed in the College of Education.
Department of Agricultural Science and Engineering - Dr. Korsi Dumenyo - Chair
In taking the reins on the newly rebranded Department of Agricultural Science and Engineering (formerly the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Science), Dr. Korsi Dumenyo assumed leadership of what was and remains the College’s largest department. After restructuring, the department has slimmed to be sure, but remains an integral part of the consummate agriculture education at TSU. Like his other colleagues chairing new departments, Dr. Dumenyo will lean on the experience of longtime department chairs Dr. Samuel Nahashon (Department of Food and Animal Sciences) and Dr. Veronica Oates (Department of Human Sciences), but Dr. Dumenyo brings to the role plenty of his own ideas, as evidenced by his first few months as Chair.
Before he could put his own stamp on his reformed department, however, Dr. Dumenyo has to matriculate through the program students who were part of the Agricultural and Environmental Science department. Though the new, respective departments have assumed mentorship and guidance responsibilities over the students with concentrations in their disciplines, until the new departments have their own Bachelor of Science degree programs available, the students technically all still fall under Dr. Dumenyo’s purview. Undeterred, Dr. Dumenyo has progressed with his plan to reform the department.
Back in February, Dr. Dumenyo led the process to conduct a SWOT analysis of the department, examining who and what remained after the restructuring and what elements of the program needed to evolve. A total of 13 departmental committees have been established to tackle a wide range of topics including technology, strategic planning, and curriculum development. On the topic of the latter, Dr. Dumenyo and the Agricultural Science and Engineering leadership team is beginning the process to morph what was one huge, catch-all department into a hyper-focused department with its own concentrations in biotechnology, plant science, and precision agriculture and engineering.
