Pi Alpha Xi - PAX

Dear Friends of the Lotus,

By now all active chapters should have received the results of the Executive Secretary at ASHS ballot. As it was overwhelming approved, the officers are now starting to put words into actions. The first step will be to move the website. Then we will transition the database and other responsibilities with the aim of having this completed by August 1. Rest assured that I will work closely with Daniel, our VP who will become President in July to make this as seamless a transition as in the past. I know a number of us are concerned about the cost of this to Pi Alpha Xi National as we are a low budget operation. Mike Neff, ASHS executive director is also aware of this and will strive to make this a break even situation for them as having Pi Alpha Xi associated with ASHS will be a big benefit for both of us in the future.

Another change that looks very exciting is the revitalization of the Annual Photography Contest by adding a special category each year. The contest is held at the ASHS annual meeting. This year the special category will feature activities of Horticulture undergraduate clubs. Special thanks to Richard Criley, Bob Stamps and Daniel Warnock for taking the initiative on this and also revising the submission and prize guidelines, We hope to get more entries and turn this into a true fund raiser for our Scholarship program. Be sure to pass this information on directly to the ACB Horticulture Club at your institutions (and YES – advisor photos are welcome).

Also, I hope that all of you are making plans to attend the 67th National Intercollegiate Floral Crop Quality Evaluation and Design Competition to be held at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville April 2-4, 2008. Information is available directly from Dr. Mike Compton and is also enumerated in this issue of the Lotus Leaflet. Remember, your students can enter only the Design portion of the competition if you wish. In addition to the benefits from the competition, I have found that the tours that take place on Friday give a great view of another part of our horticultural world.

Lastly, we are looking for nominations for Secretary-Treasurer to take office July 2008. Dr. Virginia Walters at Cal-Poly heads this group. Please consider nominating a colleague….. and as always, self-nominations are encouraged.

I hope that you all have a great Spring semester, leap year and all.

As ever,
Ellen
Recruit, retain, reward

Reprinted from Lotus Leaflet Winter 2008

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