IFAS Matters - March 2012 - Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

IFAS Matters - March 2012

Posted on March 01, 2012 by Jack Payne

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Welcome to the first edition of IFAS Matters, a soon-to-be monthly e-newsletter which will, as the name implies, address UF/IFAS, uh, matters. It has been my pipe dream for IFAS to offer you a timely, in-depth news and information source. But it took hiring a seasoned professional like Dr. Ruth Borger, our new Associate VP for IFAS Communications, to make it a reality.

But there was choosing the right name. There were copious entries that spanned from somber, journalistic jargonalia (The IFAS Monthly Bulletin), to cyber-hip signatures with a touch of down-home (SVP Jack’s Blog). And then, when it seemed that a moniker worthy of embracing a vast, mutable, and multi-faceted organization such as IFAS wasn’t likely to emerge from the pack, I overheard a woman attending a legislative session say, “IFAS matters to more people than you think, congressman!”

There it was! IFAS matters, as both an intransitive verb, to be of importance, and IFAS matters, as a noun, meaning something that has mass and that occupies space and can be perceived by one or more senses; a physical body, a physical substance, or the universe as a whole.

So I offer you our first edition of IFAS Matters. Because it really does.

- Jack