Message from the Department Head

Dear Colleagues, Contributors, Supporters, and Friends, 

Happy New Year to you and yours. The Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology (PPEM) wish you and yours a healthy and happy coming year.
 
2018 was an inspirational and celebratory year for PPEM in part because of our many relationships with retirees, emeritus faculty, alumni, and industry supporters. In this addition of SporePrints, we highlight the comings and goings of the second half of the year.
 
We delighted in seeing many of you at the retirement party we hosted for Barbara Christ (Click on the link to see highlights and photos from the party. You helped to make this a special day for Barb and Elwin and all who attended. Many dignitaries from out of town came in to help us celebrate and make this one of the most fun events of the year. Donations to the newly named Elwin L. Stewart and Barbara J. Christ Plant Pathology Graduate Studies Enhancement Fund were significant and will help us to continue their mission of providing graduate students with opportunities that enrich their graduate program. This year much of the funding from this endowment and the Herbert Cole Jr. Fund for Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology went toward sending graduates students to the International Conference on Plant Pathology held in Boston this year where they helped staff the successful PPEM booth and were part of a tour to one of our industry partners, Indigo Agriculture where many of our alumni and former staff now work. The fund also supported travel for students to the International Mycological Congress. Clearly, our emeritus faculty and those that contribute to their named endowments are still making a difference in providing industry and international opportunities for our students.
 
We are making significant strides in fulfilling our promise to build our Phytobiomes leadership this year. Two faculty Drs. Hockett and Bell served as chairs for and many of our faculty served on the planning committee or participated in the Penn State Wild and Tamed Phytobiomes Symposium this summer. Leaders from around the globe convened at Penn State and provided students from PPEM and the Microbiome Center with opportunities to network with world-class phytobiome researchers. Our faculty, students, and staff are being recognized as leaders in this field and our other signature research areas and are sought after as keynote, symposium, and university seminar speakers.
 
We were pleased to have Dr. Christina Call join our department to help us grow our educational programs. In addition to her scholarship in agricultural science pedagogy and curriculum development, she brings experience in plant and fungal reproductive genetics and GIS expertise. We are excited to have Dr. Call develop new curricula for our department.
 
2019 is already turning into another record year for support from our faculty, retirees, emeritus faculty, alumni, and industry supporters. We have negotiated the first industry-funded graduate fellowship housed in our department (to be formally announced this semester). This will increase our capacity to train graduate students. Likewise, the Foundations for Leadership and Innovation Endowment in Plant Pathology is approximately halfway to being completely funded for use in professional development, leadership, and innovation for graduate students and other trainees. Many alumni have taken advantage of the one-for-one match to contributions to make a bigger impact in their giving. This and other support is helping to fuel the research and activities that sustain Pennsylvania growers and allow us to make significant contributions to our field.
 
Here we bring to your attention some highlights of our work and the work of our alumni since May 2018. We hope you enjoy reading about our accomplishments.
 
Healthy and Happy New Year to you all.
Carolee