Welcome to our special edition of the ADSA Dair-e-news featuring coverage of the 2022 Annual Meeting. Attendance both in-person and virtual is excellent with registration now over 1,650 from 45 countries. If you are at the meeting, stop by the ADSA Booth (203,302) to say hello and get added information. 

We talk virtual versus in-person meeting with ADSA board member and Michigan State University professor Mike VandeHaar. VandeHaar was quite involved in the planning and coordination of ADSA's virtual meetings the last two years. He shares some key learnings and takeaways. To view.

After two years of virtual-only meetings, ADSA board member and University of Wisconsin professor Dr. Laura Hernandez shares her thoughts on what it’s like to be back in person this year. To view.

During the ADSA Annual Meeting in Kansas City, Normand St-Pierre, PhD, Professor Emeritus at The Ohio State University and Director of Research and Development for Perdue AgriBusiness – Animal Nutrition, assumed the role of President of the American Dairy Science Association. He will serve as President of the association for one year following his recent one year of service as Vice-President of the organization. 

More than 100 dairy science students from 25 dairy clubs attended ADSA's 2022 Annual Meeting.

The week began on Saturday with a tour of the Kansas City Zoo. During the tour, students and dairy club advisors attended educational programs about care and feeding of zoo animals. The evening was capped with a hospitality room to greet late arriving students, and a group dinner.

The group's first business meeting was held on Sunday. During the meeting the officer team presented a proposal to change the name from Student Affiliate Division to Undergraduate Student Division. Clubs also introduced their officer candidates. The rest of the day was filled with Dairy Quiz Bowl, in which 8 schools participated. This year’s winning team was from the Pennsylvania State University (pictured).

Monday was filled with competitions including paper and poster presentation contests, judging of yearbooks, scrapbooks and annual reports, along with Outstanding Student and Advisor. Over lunch, students attended the Industry Career Roundtable with 8 industry, association, and grad school representatives joining to share their career insights.

The group brought back the Activities Symposium for 2022. It was tremendously successful, allowing schools to highlight club activities and share their tips for success. Students rounded out the day with time in the exhibit hall, followed by a group dinner downtown.

The second business meeting was held on Tuesday. During that meeting a representative from Agriculture Future of America met with students to talk about the leadership opportunities available. The students also voted to approve the division’s name change, and interviewed officer candidates. Elections were held.

Next students participated in a professional member mentoring session where small groups were paired with professional members who walked them through the posters and explained how to view the science being presented. Dairy Management Inc. offered an interactive workshop on confident communication.

The highlight of the week was the Undergraduate Student Division Awards Luncheon, where students were recognized for their achievements.

It has been an amazing year and after 2 years of virtual meetings. Students were very pleased to be back in person. The undergraduates enjoyed the opportunity to network and get to know students from other dairy clubs.

1.      Mentoring sessions. We’d like to thank the professional members who took time out of their schedules to participate in our mentoring program and visit posters and papers with undergrads. We had close to 50 students participate. The students value this opportunity to not only be exposed to the many aspects of the meeting, but also to network with professional members. As this program grows, the undergrads would like to see an expanded mix of academic and industry representatives.

2.      Change SAD name. There has been discussion the past few years about the undergraduate

program name. SAD – Student Affiliate Division – has somewhat of a negative connotation and causes confusion for those new to the organization. This year’s leadership made it one of their goals to make the name change a reality. It was discussed during our first business meeting on Sunday and formally approved today. From this point forward we will be known as Undergraduate Student Division.

On behalf of the SAD students and advisors, thank you for your continued support of our program. Each year our board is tasked with finding more than 50 professional members to help us with our competitions and networking events.

1. Usman Arshad - University of Florida