The Farm Lane Society with Kathryn Reed
Author: In the Field
Kathryn Reed, Director of Donor Relations and Stewardship for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University, explains the value of the Farm Lane Society.
May 22, 2018
Kathryn Reed, Director of Donor Relations and Stewardship for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University, explains the value of the Farm Lane Society.
In the Field: The Farm Lane Society with Kathryn Reed - Transcript
Kraig Ehm: Welcome to In the Field, a podcast originating from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University. I'm your host, Kraig Ehm. In this episode of In the Field, we will visit with Kathryn Reed, Director of Alumni Relations and Special Events for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University. Kathryn, thank you for joining me.
Kathryn Reed: Thanks for inviting me Kraig.
Ehm: The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and its Alumni Association, have created a Farm Lane Society. What exactly is a Farm Lane Society?
Reed: The Farm Lane Society is going to have its inaugural event on Tuesday, March 7th. It is going to be a gathering of all of the past Alumni Association board members and the recipients of the College of Ag and Natural Resources Alumni Association awards, and the winners of the College's Distinguished Service Award.
Ehm: What is the mission of the society or what do you hope to be the purpose?
Reed: We're really excited about the purpose. Our board members over the course of the length of the board, which began in 1976. You served your term on the board and then we said thank you and come back to a couple of events during the years, but you never really got another in depth look at the college. Same thing for our award recipients. We bring them into ANR week, invite them to the luncheon, give them their award. Say thank you. Few minutes in the spotlight. And the Farm Lane Society is actually going to be an annual event where we bring people back to campus, recognize their achievements on a yearly basis and give them another ... Continue on with the inside looks of the college, what's going on in the college and learn all the new things that are happening and why they're important.
Ehm: Speaking of important, why is it important for the College of Ag and Natural Resources to have a Farm Lane Society?
Reed: It's really important for us to continue to engage with these individuals. Collectively they have a lot of influence in the state of Michigan and we would like them to know what we're doing and why it is important to our State.
Ehm: It's kind of like a gathering of the Heisman winters, the Heisman house, everyone comes together who's been a former award winner, and you can kind of pick their brain a little bit, right?
Reed: It will become kind of a who's who in Agriculture and Natural Resources in the state. An annual gathering of everyone.
Ehm: Now you mentioned earlier all of the different people who can be a member of the society. But go through and explain it again, some of the different people who will be a part of the Farm Lane Society.
Reed: There are three categories of people who will be invited to be part of the Farm Lane Society. The first part will be those who have served a term on the college's Alumni Association Board of Directors. The second group of people are going to be those who have received an Alumni Association Award and the board began giving those awards out in 1976. So we're pretty excited to bring this group back together. And the other group will be the recipients of the College's Distinguished Service Awards and those have been given out since the early '50s. So collectively, this group will be just under 600 people that will be eligible to be part of this Farm Lane club.
Ehm: What are the benefits to being a member?
Reed: There are some great benefits of being a member. Some of the benefits are exactly what you were able to do when you were on the Alumni Board behind the scenes tours of locations on campus, special activities at the Ag Bio Research stations. We will be having a few lectures every now and then. But something where most excited about is all members will receive a special lapel pin that is very specific just to the Farm Lane Society. At the breakfast we will be doing opinion ceremony. For individuals who are eligible to become members of the Farm Lane Society if you're not able to attend the breakfast, board members and myself will work with you to get out to your communities and do pinings either at your work or at Church or your Kiwanis Club. We would love to get you the pin and show that you are an active member of the Farm Lane Society. We're really excited to bring this group back together and for them to continue their networking. I mean it's going to be a great opportunity for those who received recognition or were on the board say in the early '70s, to be able to connect with those who were on the board 20 and 30 years later.
Ehm: Now, how will this swore a get kicked off?
Reed: The inaugural event will be a breakfast that will be hosted before the ANR week luncheon on Tuesday, March 8th. We're really excited. It's going to begin at 7:30 in the morning. We'll check in and registration and your name tags and then we'll serve breakfast and about 45 minutes later we're going to do two breakout sessions. The first one is going to be Monique Fields with the Spartans Advocates Program, who's going to share information on the importance of lobbying with the State of Michigan and the realities of how Michigan State University and the College of Ag is funded. And the second part is going to be with Dr. Kelly Millenbah, Associate Dean with our college of Ag and Natural Resources, and she's going to explain the importance of curriculum, development, reorganization of the curriculum, and a workforce development going forward for the college.
Ehm: In a way, it's almost like people will be able to see each other when maybe they haven't had contact with each other for a number of years.
Reed: That's exactly what it'll be. We're really hoping that people enjoy coming back to campus and seeing those that they don't get to see on a regular basis.
Ehm: If someone is not a member or qualified to be a member of the Farm Lane Society, how can they do so?
Reed: There are several different ways that individuals could become a member of the Farm Lane Society. One would be to serve a term on the Alumni Association Board. The board is made up of 18 voting members, a member representing every department in the college and five at large members as well as a representative from MSU extension and a young alumni representative. So that's one way. The second way to join the Farm Lane Society is to be nominated and receive either a college of Ag and Natural Resources Alumni Association Award or the Distinguished Service Award. Call for nominations go out every October. Nominations are due in December of each year and we always enjoy awarding those.
Ehm: What other events does the College of Ag and Natural Resources Alumni Association have coming up?
Reed: The College's Alumni Association has two flagship programs that we give every year. The next one coming up will be our Annual Golfing for Scholarships event, which will be held on Tuesday, June 7th at Forest Akers West, great event. We typically have over 120 golfers added every year. We'd love to have everyone listening come out and join us. And the second event is our Annual Autumn Fest Tailgate, which will happen November 12th this year, 3.5 hours before the MSU versus Rutgers football game.
Ehm: I golf rather poorly. So could someone like me show up and be put in with a group who might be tolerant?
Reed: Most definitely. This is a golf outing where individuals of all levels participate. Some people, it's the first time of the year that they have brought out their clubs. Some people golf regularly, multiple times a week. There's a place for everyone in this outing since it's a scramble. Baseball scramble and we really do have golfers of all levels.
Ehm: Mulligans?
Reed: They are included. Every Golfer gets one.
Ehm: Excellent. One?
Reed: You can purchase more. But it is a fundraiser.
Ehm: Okay. Thank you very much. I would like to thank Kathryn Reed, Director of Alumni Relations and Special Events for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University for joining me today. Be sure and listen next time for another episode of In The Field.
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