(upbeat rock music) - Welcome to "A Shot of Ag."

I'm your host, Rob Sharkey.

I'm also an alumni of the Southern Illinois University.

It's changed a lot since I've been there, and to tell us about those changes, we got today's guest, Kris Boone.

How're you doing?

- I'm good.

How are you?

- Good.

- It's good to see ya.

- Are you ready for this?

- I am.

- You are the Dean of College of Ag, Life and Physical Sciences at SIUC?

- Yes.

- It used to just be the College of Ag when I was there.

- Yep.

- Y'all added a bunch.

- We did.

We merged.

(both laugh) - Now you're fairly new.

- I am.

I started in May.

- Yeah, so not even a year, huh?

- Right.

Yeah.

- Okay.

Are you enjoying it?

- I am.

It's great.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- Now you weren't a Saluki alumni though.

- I was not, no, no.

I learned about SIUC when I was an undergraduate at Texas Tech.

There was a graduate student there who came out of Carbondale, and I really learned about their programs from her, and it really made me understand the real commitment to teaching and focus on student success from SIU.

- Is that unusual that a dean comes in that wasn't an alumni?

- A lot of times now, yeah, you see that.

There's more mobility within higher ed, yeah.

- Well, I'm sure it brings in, you know, different mindsets.

- It does, it does, it's good to, you know, it's kind of like, you know, football teams, you kind of want to see somebody come in and bring in new ideas when they're coaching.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

Do you have to own a Saluki when you're a dean?

- You do not have to own a Saluki, but I would love to see a mascot running around, you know, a gray dog in the office, that'd be great.

- An Egyptian racing dog is what it is.

- (laughing) Right?

- I've never understood why we had that as a... It could be a lot worse.

- Could be.

- Yeah.

- Yes, yes.

- But they're not very intimidating.

- No, but they are fierce hunters, and they're really fast.

- But they look eloquent.

- They do.

They do.

Yeah, yeah.

- I kind of want something like a bear that's half beaten up and stuff like that.

(Kris laughing) It's all right.

- But, you know, it's not a Husker Red.

- At least we have a mascot.

- Right.

- That's a shot at another Illinois school.

(both laughing) All right, let's go back.

Where are you from originally?

- I'm from a small town in Texas called Knox City, Texas, and it's really, it's tiny, and it's between Lubbock and Fort Worth, so- - Oh my gosh.

- Yeah, it's in the middle of nowhere.

- That is a warm part of the country.

- It is a warm part of the country, yep, yep, yep, yep.

- I remember flying into Lubbock, and I think the tires melted on the tarmac.

(Kris laughing) I got off that plane and I was like, "I don't even know where I'm at."

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- It was a heat that I had never experienced before.

- Yeah, and that dust can hit you, whoof.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Yeah.

- Any farm or ag background?

- Yeah, grew up farming.

- Okay, farm girl?

- Yeah.

Grew up farming and ranching, so stocker cattle and wheat, and honest to God, that's kind of how I defined agriculture until I went to college and then learned a lot about how different it could be.

And then my first job, well, I'd worked for newspapers while I was in college, and then my first job was in public relations and worked in mostly produce accounts first and dairy, and got to travel around, and that's where I really understood how diverse agriculture could be.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, where'd you go first, Texas Tech?

- Yeah, well, I started out at Texas A&M, and I learned, and kind of the hard way, that belonging is a really important part of a college student's experience.

And I didn't have a sense of belonging, nothing against Texas A&M, but I did not have a sense of belonging.

And so that's something I really emphasize with our faculty and staff, is establishing that student's sense of belonging.

And at Texas Tech, I did have that sense of belonging and completed my education there and very proud to be a Red Raider.

- A Red Raider.

- Yes, guns up.

- You gotta do that?

- Guns up, yeah.

- Guns, oh, okay.

(Kris laughing) What was your major?

- Agricultural communication.

- Yeah, there's no money in that.

(Kris laughing) Don't go into that.

I wouldn't touch it with a- - Yeah, it hasn't worked out for you.

(laughs) - What did you want to do?

- Actually, I really wanted to do ag communications.

I thought I'd do more international work, but my focus went into really the domestic kind of work.

And then when I got into graduate school, I kind of went into agency work, and I realized that I did not like changing hats.

- They will suck the life right out of you, agencies.

- (laughs) Well, I couldn't change hats.

Like, I'm really good at this is my mission, and I'm all about that, but changing hats was not good for me.

And so I thought, well I'm gonna go into graduate school, get a degree, get back into industry.

And then I started realizing that I really like this teaching and research thing, and a new career pathway opened up for me.

And then when I started into working in extension and academia and realized the impact you can have on people, it really just changed where I was going.

- Okay, so you graduated, you decided not to have your soul stealed by the agencies.

(Kris laughing) They are horrible, by the way.

They are.

Hi, I work at an agency.

You're an influencer.

Can you gimme all your ideas, and then I'm not gonna hire you.

(Kris laughing) Okay, so then what did you do?

- Then I joined the faculty at K State, and, Kansas State University and was in the ag, at that time, Ag Journalism program.

It became Ag Communications and Journalism.

- Now that school's a colt.

- (laughs) A purple colt.

It was great though.

I loved it.

- They are nuts.

(Kris laughing) - Go K State, go Wildcats.

- Down at Aggieville and all that, yeah.

- Mm-hm, yeah, yep.

- Oh, I'm sorry.

What did you do there?

- I was faculty, and then I was a department head, and I was able to start an Environmental Communication program alongside our Agricultural and Communication program, and we developed a Master's program and a PhD that was interdisciplinary and a Global Food Systems Leadership program.

So got to do some really cool programs there and really enjoyed it and loved working with all my students.

So, there 20 plus years, raised my kiddos there.

- Okay, I don't know the rankings, right?

Because I would've thought a department head would be a dean.

- So deans are kind of on top, or are supervised department heads.

- Okay, then what's above you as a dean?

- Provost.

- Who?

- Provost.

- I don't know what that is.

- Provost are the chief academic officers for a university.

- Okay, and then what's the chancellor, is that- - Chancellor.

- over everybody?

- Yeah, yeah, and then in our case, we are a system university, so we have a president in charge of the system.

So, our chancellor is Austin Lane, and then our president is Dan Mahoney.

And the president oversees three campuses, and Chancellor Lane is in charge of the Carbondale campus.

- So every college movie in the 1970s, it wasn't the chancellor, it wasn't the president, it was always the dean that was the bad guy.

- The bad guy, yeah, yeah.

- That's you.

- That's me, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Has things changed?

- Well, I'm not a bad guy, I don't think.

(laughing) - Every dean in that movie would say they weren't the bad guy.

- (laughs) Good point.

- Yeah, okay.

- Yeah, good point.

- But I dunno, I'm thinking the "Animal House" and all that.

- Yeah, oh we had Dean Wormer.

- Wormer, I couldn't think of the name.

- Oh, yeah, oh my goodness, yeah, yeah.

He was definitely a bad guy.

(laughs) - So then was it to Ohio State after that?

- So yeah, so I went to Ohio State at the Agricultural Technical Institute, which is in Worcester.

And that campus is the main agricultural experiment station campus, and then it has this big undergraduate footprint with the Agricultural Technical Institute, and that's a two-year degree granting school, so very heavily into technical education.

- Gotcha.

Tell me about this.

- Okay.

So, while we were there, we got to start a livestock judging team, and it was really exciting to get that started.

They're in their second year of competition now, and they're doing great, and I'm very proud to have been part of getting that started.

And it was just fantastic.

It took a minute to kind of get everybody on board because they travel a lot, but they bring in so many good students.

And we had a fantastic team.

Shout out to Seth.

(bell dings) (laughs) We really wanna get another team restarted at SIU.

We had a great team at SIU, and we wanna get another team started at SIU, 'cause it really is something that brings together faculty and staff and students.

- Yeah, I'm surprised you don't have one.

- Well, like I said, we did back in the day.

And Western has a strong team right now, but I think we've got space to have another team here, so.

- Yeah, locally Black Hawk in Kewanee.

My Gosh!

- Oh man, woo, yeah, yeah.

They are a perennial champion and just do really, really well.

ATI's on the circuit with them, so they compete now.

Of course, they're not quite where they are just because it's their second year, but they're doing great work, and so yeah, we wanna be up there and competing.

The students will compete nationally one time, so they want to compete at the two-year level one time, and then they're gonna try to compete at the four-year level one time.

- Are you competitive?

- Only a little.

Yeah, I'm competitive.

(laughing) - Yeah, I was literally just gonna call you out.

But I mean, as a dean, you kind of have to be, don't you?

- Well, I mean, I don't wanna be overly competitive, but I think there's niches that we have to look for, and when you have a great faculty like we have who are so engaged with our students, I think you really want to make hay with that.

I was just talking with new students the other day.

We had new student orientation, and I was just talking to 'em, and some students were asking about working in labs.

And I'm like, "Man, that is one of the best jobs "you can have on campus," because when you're working with faculty in a lab, whether it's a lab out on the farm or a lab that's literally in a chemistry lab or something like that, they know those students so well, and they take such pride in getting them great jobs, great grad student placement, you know, things like that.

It's a lifelong relationship.

So, it was just so fun to see them get excited about those kinds of things.

- So SIUC, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Illinois has had an ag program for probably forever.

There might be some people that said, "It's slipped."

And there seems to be a very hard push in the last few years to build that back and then bringing someone like yourself in.

So not only are you expected to do your job, but you're expected to be bring back the glory days of Southern.

Is that intimidating?

- No, it's fun.

(both laughing) I mean, it really is.

We've got this great asset.

We have a 2,000 acre farm that's so close to campus.

We have a university that completely values the ag asset, and they talk about it from the chancellor, the president.

The president's most recent podcast was on ag.

So, there's a valuing of agriculture where you see a number of institutions nationally that at one time may have centered on agriculture, and they've lost that center.

We don't.

We have not lost that.

So, I love that it's embraced at SIU, and that the whole Carbondale campus really embraces that, not only in our Carbondale, but also our Bellville Research Center.

So, I think that's a really great spot to be in.

And we're reinvigorating our connection with our farm, both in the agronomics side, in our forestry, in our horticulture, and in our animal science side.

So, I think there's just so much potential.

- Yeah, it is different now.

I mean, there are people in agriculture that will say the entire university systems with agriculture isn't what they used to be, university isn't what it used to be.

Does that open up opportunities for Southern compared to other schools?

- Yeah, for sure, for sure.

Yeah, I think centering in on agriculture, putting a highlight on agriculture, you know, I feel like we're the place to be.

Our forestry program's like in the top two in the country.

Horticulture is growing when many programs in the state have just kind of shut it down.

This is a place where people are really engaged with our folks, our students.

Some of the animal science work is so exciting.

We brought back bull test.

- You test the bulls.

- We test the bulls.

- They aren't that smart, Kris.

(Kris laughing) - Well, maybe they take better notes, I don't know.

(both laughing) But it's pretty exciting to see some of those things.

We've got a great new ag systems professor who's brought back our quarter scale tractor.

He's doing some great 3D printing stuff, some drone work.

It's just wonderful to see those things coming in, so it's pretty fun.

- It's competitive.

I mean, you've got a lot of schools in Illinois and a lot of schools in the neighboring states.

Why would someone that's interested in agriculture pick Southern?

- Well, a couple of good reasons.

One is every state is outta state.

I mean, well, I shouldn't say that.

Every state is in state.

We have an out-of-state tuition waiver for any state.

So, I mean, that's very attractive.

- You do?

- We do.

And our in-state tuition is very competitive.

So, you come in here, we're gonna be a really good place for you to look at economically.

So, encouraging folks from states to look at that.

We are also a Research 1 institution, so that's pretty high cotton, you know.

We've got some really excellent... That's the top research category from the Carnegie Foundation, so that's really impressive.

That's based on research expenditures, your number of PhD students you produce, that kind of thing.

But at the same time, we're an opportunity institution, and that means you have a broader range of students that come into Southern Illinois, and then we also... Those students have to graduate and earn more money.

They can't just graduate.

They have to earn more money.

So that means it's a value add.

There's only 21 institutions that do that in the United States, and I think we're the only one that's rural, so we're one of 21 that do that.

I mean, that's really impressive to be able to have that.

So you've got that great faculty who are producing this leading-edge research, and at the same time, they're doing this value add through their teaching program.

That's pretty amazing.

- Okay.

I was not a great student.

- No.

- In high school, no, no, not even joking on this one.

- Really?

- Yeah.

C, was celebrated.

A D was for diploma, so I was perfectly fine with that.

I went to Southern, because I didn't want anybody to steal my girlfriend, Kris.

(Kris laughing) I kid you not, not joking on that.

You know, I struggled.

I made it through.

Some of that might have been my laziness, I don't know.

So what do you tell someone that maybe isn't a straight A student?

Is it worth going to university?

- Absolutely.

Absolutely.

I failed my first chemistry test when I was in college, and I spent the rest of the afternoon crying in my shower.

- Oh!

- Yep.

Yep.

It happens.

We learn and we figure it out, and we find our folks to support us, and we figure out how we can move on from that.

And, you know, a higher education, it has greatly benefited me.

It makes a huge difference.

I just heard a study the other day where... You know, I am a big supporter of any post-secondary training, I really am.

And we can scaffold those things.

You can go get a certificate and maybe build that into an associate's degree and maybe build that into a bachelor's degree.

But the long-term benefit for your family is gonna be a bachelor's degree.

And we see that across long-term earnings, across health outcomes, all those kinds of things.

But it doesn't mean we have to just start with that bachelor's degree.

We can build onto some other things to get there, and it might start with on-the-job training.

There's nothing wrong with that.

My thing is, let's meet learners where they are, and let's help 'em get to there.

- So, the amount of farmers in this country, I'm gonna say are under 1%, right?

- Yep, a little bit over, probably.

- So, probably the same farmers and ranchers, just not very many, so it has to be hard when you're creating a school of agriculture, looking at all the aspects of ag from research to sales to communications, if you want to do that.

I mean, it's just a whole lot of things to cover all at once.

As a dean, are you selecting what gets taught?

- No, that's by the faculty, and that's why our faculty need to be very in touch with industry and with our producers.

You know, one of the things that I think we value very much, and you know, this is a hard time in ag.

This is a very hard time in ag, and we value very much making our producers successful.

And, you know, it's a tough time, and we are very aware of that.

And at the same time, we know that this too shall pass, and we wanna make sure we're gearing our students up to be successful agricultural leaders and scientists.

That's our end goal, but at the same time, we wanna serve our current producers.

- Gotcha.

Out of all the faculty that you work with, which one do you like the least?

- Oh boy.

Let's see.

Okay, first off, no, I'm kidding.

I can't do that.

(laughs) - You can.

- I can, but- - Yeah, somebody came to mind.

(Kris laughing) - You know, by- - What's her name rhyme with?

- (laughs) By and large, there are some that you always have little issues with, but by and large, there are so many great folks that I just get so excited about.

We were talking about a couple last night that, like this one guy, he's like, he creates microbes that convert plastic into food stuff.

- To create, say that again?

- He bio manufactures microbes that convert plastic into food stuff.

- I didn't think that was... Well, you know, there's Oreo cookies.

I think they're already there.

(Kris laughing) So he's just reinventing the wheel.

Is that what it is?

- Yeah, I know.

It's like, what a mad scientist.

Isn't that just crazy?

- How is that... Do they eat the plastics?

- Yeah, they do, they do.

- Then you eat the microbes?

- Well, they poop.

- Okay, I suppose- - And it creates food stuff, so it creates a (indistinct) - But it also gets rid of the plastic, right?

- It does, yeah.

- Because isn't that like the thing right now is getting plastic outta the ocean?

- It is, and if we're gonna have people go to Mars, they're gonna have to manufacture food stuff.

- Are we going to Mars?

- I don't know.

That's above my pay grade.

(both laughing) - You said that they're actually, that the soil from the moon or whatever.

Tell me about that.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

We have a researcher and the School of Biological Sciences that's been growing soybeans in a synthetic martian soil, and they're actually doing pretty well.

The soybeans have been producing really well.

- Don't, don't say... Because I tell you what, there's a subsect of farmers that are into this high yield stuff.

They wanna get the highest yield, and then they win the competition- - Then they're gonna want to get the martian soil.

- I don't want a bunch of martian soil.

(Kris laughing) Then they'd have to have a label on it, "Grown in martian soil," and that.

Can you imagine?

Yes.

Okay, all right.

That's something I would've never, ever thought of.

I don't know what I thought the moon was made of, but I didn't think it could grow soybeans up there.

(Kris laughing) Some oxygen might help.

(both laughing) - True, I guess when you bring it down here, it's the best of both worlds.

- So do you have people that are interested?

I mean, can they come visit?

Will you set 'em up?

- Oh, we love to have people come visit.

We love giving tours.

We love showing people what's going on.

We just had some site visitors that were coordinated by SI Now, which is Southern Illinois Now.

Absolutely love showing people what's going on.

It's so exciting.

I'm so proud of the work our folks do.

- Your alumni, I was impressed with when we went down our last year, I mean, the dedication they have to the College of Ag and Physical Science.

And even though things change, they're so dedicated to it.

That's gotta be great to have that in your back pocket.

- Yeah, it's really exciting.

I love, you know, it's so funny, I get to go visit some of the labs and just always have such a fun time when I do.

- Do you ever create some like abominations or something like that?

(Kris laughing) - Not that I know of.

Maybe they're hiding them from me.

- None of that stuff.

- None of that, no, no.

- Leave that to Monsanto.

- Yeah.

(both laughing) - They're gone.

It's a joke.

(bell rings) It's fine.

They don't even exist anymore.

Relax, people.

(laughs) But when you have... You gotta have some people that come up to you, like some faculty say, "I want to study this," off the wall stuff, like growing soybeans on the moon and that.

(Kris laughs) Do you ever go just like, "No, "that has absolutely no redeemable value," and then you find out later that maybe it did?

- Well, so we have a lot of compliance stuff that we go through that kind of saves us from that single person making that call.

So, there's lots of checks and balances on the research side.

- That's no fun.

- I know.

Sorry, sorry.

(laughs) - Well, if someone's interested in checking out Southern, where do they go?

- I'd say call us.

Call my office, yeah.

- Yes, so you want to call the office of the College of Ag Life and Physical Science at SIUC.

- Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

- And ask for you?

- Yeah, for sure.

- Okay, all right.

Did they give you an assistant?

- Yes, I've got an assistant now, so I'm so excited.

- Is that the reason you were able to drive up here?

- Yeah.

(laughs) - How long is the drive to Peoria?

- Three and a half, yeah.

- Yeah, okay, that's- - That's not bad.

- That's on the verge of being too long, but yeah.

- Oh, it's all right.

- When I was from... I think from Bradford, it was five and a half hours to go down there.

- Okay.

Yeah.

- And then Emily was about the same from Princeton, so yeah.

We lived in separate apartments.

(Kris laughs) We did.

We paid rent on two different apartments.

- And you spelunked?

- Yeah.

Southern Illinois caverns, yeah.

It's a beautiful campus, a beautiful area down there in Giant City.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- If you want to see the outdoor beauty of Illinois, don't go to U of I, just flat there.

- (laughs) It is just gorgeous down there.

It's so beautiful and so many fun outdoor things to do to hike or riding in the park, and, not the park, but the forest and so many things to do.

- Yeah, the old dude's not there anymore that sells the bagels, right?

- No, they are.

They've resurrected the bagel service, yeah.

- Oh, really?

- Right, yeah, yeah.

- Might have to go back down.

(chuckles) Kris- - (laughs) Hanger nine has come back too.

- Oh my gosh, yeah, road trip.

- Yeah.

- Kris Boone from Carbondale, the Dean of College of Ag Life and Physical Science at SIU.

Thank you and good luck.

I am very optimistic about Southern and the College of Ag there because of you and what you- - Oh, thank you, Rob.

- I love the competitiveness.

- Yes!

- I love the desire to make it better, and I'm really excited for the future.

- Thank you, Rob.

I'm hoping you're gonna be part of our mission, because you already are.

- (laughs) Kris, thank you very much.

- Thank you.

- Everybody else, we'll catch you next time.

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