Welcome to Deep Roots!

Welcome to the first official episode of the Deep Roots Podcast! In this debut episode, we introduce the visionary leadership behind Davis College by sitting down with the college’s deans to discuss the purpose, passion, and direction that guide the work and research happening at Davis College. As the driving forces, the deans share insight into their leadership philosophies, their values, and the priorities that influence the continued growth and success.

A common theme for this episode’s conversation is PRIME. The deans reflect on what PRIME means to them personally and professionally, explaining how it informs decision-making, strengthens academic programs, and supports a culture of innovation. They discuss how PRIME is much more than a word, serving as a daily standard that inspires faculty, staff, and students to pursue meaningful impact.

We are excited to launch the Deep Roots Podcast, and hope you enjoy the conversation that highlights initiatives that define Davis College and its ongoing In Pursuit of PRIME.

Learn more about the Texas Tech Davis College and our Pursuit of Prime at our links below, and follow us on social media for more information, updates, and fun!

Davis College Website

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

YouTube

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Hi there, and welcome to the Deep Roots Podcast, a production of the Texas Tech University Davis College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. The Davis College is home to some of the very best students, educators, and scientists in the world of agriculture. Our research is focused on more fully understanding agricultural systems in the natural world, all in hopes of helping people live better, healthier, happier lives today and far into the future. I'm Dr. Vikram Beliga, the Assistant Dean for Outreach and Engagement, and I hope you'll join me for this very first episode of Deep Roots as we journey through the stories of the incredible folks who make the Davis College truly something special. Over the next few years, the Davis College will be continuing in our pursuit of crime, with the goal of being one of the top colleges of agriculture in the country. We're dedicated to shaping the future of agriculture, natural resources, and landscapes. As we provide for the next generation of leaders to address major challenges and create a brighter future with investments in advanced facilities, innovative research, and hands-on education. Rooted in Texas Tech's spirit of resilience and excellence, our commitment extends beyond the classroom to improve communities and inspire prosperity for generations to come. As I mentioned earlier, none of this could ever happen without the exceptional students, faculty, staff, and amazing support system we have here in the Davis College. In today's episode, it's my genuine pleasure to introduce you to our deans, under whose leadership and service we take step after step towards reaching prime. You'll hear about the big ideas and the vision we have for meeting the challenges of tomorrow, and what it means to strive for honor and to be the very best in student programs, outreach and engagement, research, and strategic new initiatives. Over the next few months, we'll be talking to faculty working at the cutting edge of ag research, brilliant, innovative educators, and the students who are the very heart and soul of everything we do here. I'm honored to have the opportunity to chat with friends and colleagues who constantly inspire me with their passion for improving the world around them and doing good science. Here in West Texas, our roots run deep, not just into the soils that support complex ecosystems landscapes and best in the world ag production systems, but into the lives and the family of people locally and worldwide who depend on ag production and healthy landscapes. Stick around and learn a little bit more about the business of growing deep roots.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

My name is Erica Erlbeck. I'm the Associate Dean for Outreach and Engagement for the Davis College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Texas Tech University. At Texas Tech University, and in particular in the Davis College, Prime is a journey. We are on a journey to being in the top 10% of colleges of agriculture nationally. And so to me, that's what Prime is. We are on a journey, we're on a quest, and we will get there. At Texas Tech and in the Davis College, we have a 100-year history of serving the region, of serving the state of Texas. And so for outreach and engagement, uh, that that's just something that we do. It's something that's ingrained in the Davis College. And uh so as we continue working toward being in the top 10% of colleges of agriculture, that piece of our mission does not change. We continue to interface with the community. We continue to do research that is impactful for our area farmers and ranchers, for our area landowners, for our rural communities. That does not change. Uh, and I think that it just continues to make us better and make us more visible in those communities. The thing I like best about being part of the Davis College is the people. We are a close-knit community here in the Davis College. And, you know, I can I can walk into any building. I can take a walk across campus at any time and run into somebody that I know really well and that I really like. Um, you know, I've been at Texas Tech uh almost 20 years now. And so, you know, I kind of feel like I'm I'm part of the furniture here. And uh, you know, but I I know so many people here, and it's just it's fun to come to work. It's fun to work with the students, it's fun to work with the other faculty and staff here on campus. And it's just fun to see that the difference that we make in the lives of our students, the lives of our fellow faculty and staff, and in the lives of the people here in the West Texas region.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

Uh Nura Dinabidi, I'm uh serving as Associate Dean for Research of Davis College and also serving as director of the fiber and barcoint research. And also I have my own research uh uh projects, my group also, and we are looking at uh giving value to the biomass, agricultural biomass that we generate in order to uh give uh uh upscale in the biomass we produce here in West Texas. Well, uh Prime means that you need to be at the top 10 in everything we do at Davis College, and specifically for the research, uh being the top uh 10 in uh United States, producing uh uh top research uh work, uh generating uh research projects that can impact the life of uh people beyond just West Texas, generating high-quality research papers, uh inventing uh new technologies that can impact the life of people, and also educating in that way, educating students and making sure that they are ready for uh handing them the you know uh jobs and make sure they uh we have the workforce ready to take the next generation of the jobs here in West Texas and beyond. So, for example, specifically in my case, uh we produce about 60% of so of the cotton produced in the United States. And in that we uh we produce also a lot of waste. So uh 40% of the cotton that is produced in the United States is lint, but 60% is uh somehow waste. So one of the research that we do is upscaling that waste and making sure that the farmer is also going to sell that waste at high value in order for them to make money. So that's basically one way of uh of getting them uh some income from the waste they generate. And of course, we are not going to say it like it is waste, it is value-added product from the biomass they generate. So, yes, I have been here 26 years. I served with different deans. This is really the best time of Davis College, and I think currently the leadership team that we have is is really great, and uh uh Gordon Davis endowment has really empowered the college to go a next uh level. So uh I think Davis College is unique in the sense that the the people are the ones who are making the big difference. So that's uh uh and that's the reason why I'm still here after 26 years of service, and I'm continuing to service Texas Tech and Davis College.

SPEAKER_05 7:21

I'm Darren Hudson. I am the Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives at Davis College. My role at Davis College is in strategic planning and assessment. Uh the pursuit of Prime is doing those things necessary for us to achieve our long-term goals of excellence. So I think Prime, when we think about um the strategic aspect of it, is that long-running, long-run planning and um and thinking about how do you achieve your goals. Um we have lofty goals in terms of achieving excellence in teaching. You know, first and foremost, Texas Tech is committed to producing the highest quality education for our students that begins with excellent faculty teaching excellent content and offering students those experiences that prepare them for their careers. That's all on based on a foundation strategically of thinking about research, which is uh built upon solving critical problems for not only our region in West Texas, which is critical, but also beyond West Texas in arid and semi-arid environments. And none of that is is productive uh if you don't convey that information to the broader public. So that's our outreach and engagement. So strategic thinking pieces all of those together and thinks about where we need to be five, 10, 15 years from uh where we are today. So years of experience, and I was a student at Texas Tech first, uh, and then came back as a faculty member. Um, the commitment that Texas Tech has to its students is probably the most important thing to me. It's what's drawn me to uh be a part of our mission uh towards Prime. I I've always enjoyed the teaching and the interaction with the students. Uh, but I think that in in our current mode of thinking, we are attempting to create a culture of success, a culture of excellence around our students and our faculty and our staff. As Gordon Davis likes to say, it's okay to win. Um, and that's what we intend to do, is continue winning.

SPEAKER_03 9:47

My name is Robert Cox. I'm the Associate Dean for Academic and Student Programs here in the Davis College. I oversee all of the student-facing activities that the college does. So that's classes, majors, programs, activities, and graduation. Um I helped manage the Student Success Center and uh feel very fortunate to work with that very professional and dedicated group of folks. I think prime is a category that indicates you're the best. The best there is. Um you know you can have individual stakes, say, that grade out at prime. Um we have individual students, faculty, and staff that are already prime. In fact, in my opinion, probably the majority of us are. But what we want is a universal lifting so that every experience in the college grades at prime. Every experience in the college, every um class, every every internship, every educational chance that students have is the best possible. So our our college, the Davis College, has a very strong tradition of being student-centered. Um we like to say we have a hometown field, Texas Tech is a big place, um going on towards 50,000 students. But here in the college, we want to make sure that people know each other's names, that they have support for achieving their greatest ambitions. And and so my role in that is is like facilitating, making sure that faculty have um resources that allow them to provide that kind of experience for students, making sure that students have resources um by which they can achieve prime, by which they can achieve their best um ambitions. One of the best things about being part of the Davis College is the people. Uh the students uh our students have achieved prime already in so many areas. Uh really they're the cream of the crop. The faculty, the staff, the administration, everybody is outstanding and very, very rewarding to work with. The other thing that I I have been thinking about a lot lately is just the incredible future that the college has. It's so gratify to be part of a college, part of a university that has such um such an unlimited possibilities in terms of the future. There's never been a more exciting time to be a part of the Davis College. We have we've always had big ambitions for helping and changing the world. And now we have resources to match those ambitions, and we're moving forward um just unbelievably quickly and strongly to make that happen. It's very exciting.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

My name's Clint Crable. I'm the Dean of the Davis College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Texas Tech University, and I have the distinct honor and pleasure of setting the vision and driving mission of in teaching and learning, outreach and engagement, and research and innovation for this college. Yeah, so uh obviously Gordon and Joyce Davis made a uh very transformative gift to Davis College. And it was very clear to me when I first got here uh three years ago that that was really an investment, not a gift. Uh, and so I've had some great conversations with Dr. Davis, and I really, really took that to heart uh in honor of Dr. Davis and the gift. Uh, and obviously his profession originally as a meat scientist as well as an entrepreneur, uh, it made a lot of sense to me that as we aspire to be a top 10 College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources in the country, uh, that we consider the USDA quality grades to help us define what that really means. Uh and so prime choice select, obviously, prime being at the top of the US uh USDA quality grades with regard to beef quality, uh, and being approximately uh 10% of the cattle on feed uh that grade in the prime category. So we want to be uh more than just a certainly don't want to be a standard, uh, don't want to be select, don't even want to be choice, but we are really setting aspirational goals to be a top 10 College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources in the country, uh, and that's prime. So obviously, uh people uh will drive this entire uh vision of achieving prime. Uh and so for me it's really about the journey, not the destination. And so having a faculty and a staff and a student body that is really bought in to our mission uh is really of utmost import to me. So at the end of the day, it really boils down to our people and 100-year anniversary or celebration or centennial year this year with regard to the start of the college. Uh, and I think what's really, really neat is that uh the purpose for Texas Tech being here uh in West Texas with agriculture as one of the founding schools, uh, albeit certainly agriculture has evolved and changed, uh, and yet our purpose for being here has not. And that's really to serve, first and foremost, our student body, uh, to ensure that we're training the next generation of thought leaders, uh, but also understanding agriculture in West Texas, the importance of that agriculture uh and uh and the natural resources that serve agriculture and ensuring that our research is cutting edge so that we are serving the people that serve us in the production of food and fiber uh from West Texas. Yeah, I've I've uh learned to love the people of West Texas, and I had a bit of an advantage, and then I had the opportunity, even in my time at Oklahoma State University, to train students uh that either were high school grads here uh or many of them were Texas Tech alum. Uh and so I knew about the people, but just the genuineness, the work ethic, the grittiness, uh, and yet all wrapped in a package that is very uh humble and kind uh and always striving to do what's right. And so I've really, really uh enjoyed the people. Certainly, and I hear many people say it this uh West Texas is a very special place.