From the Dean

Elsewhere in this issue you'll read about the EF-2 tornado that hit the Wooster campus of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. As you review the damages sustained that September evening, you'll understand why we are amazed and so very grateful that nobody was hurt. Buildings were demolished, roofs torn off, greenhouses flattened. We are still determining the dollar value of the damages. Perhaps the most heartbreaking losses are those that only time can truly replace--the hundred-year-old trees from Secrest Arboretum and the research, especially that conducted by our graduate students. But in our great loss we find reasons for gratitude. The first 48 hours after the storm, Governor Ted Strickland, Congressman John Boccieri, Wayne County Commissioner Ann Obrecht, Wooster Mayor Bob Breneman, Ohio State Board of Trustees Member Jack Fisher, and Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee were among the officials providing support and encouragement. And two funds established are already starting to grow with donations from supporters. One will help Secrest Arboretum rebuild: http://www.giveto.osu.edu/secrestfund. The other, a general fund, will help graduate students and the entire campus: http://giveto.osu.edu, (Fund#313533 OARDC Campus Tornado Relief Fund). We will rebuild, and we will come back better than before.

Bobby D. Moser

Vice President for Agricultural Administration and Dean, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences