Changes in UC Davis Postharvest Technology

Trevor Suslor, produce safety specialist, begins, starting current September, to lead the UC Davis Postharvest Technology Center. At the same time, Beth Mitcham, former leader of the Center, was elected Vice President of the American Society for Horticultural Sciences.The presentation words by Trevor Suslor, September 2016 News and Information:"Change is good and generally refreshing and energizing. Change for the sake of Change must be discouraged and rooted out… I think I remember that from Harry Potter. The Postharvest Technology Center at Davis has a rich and impressive legacy and Beth Mitcham deserves high praise for both preserving the standards of excellence and expanding and guiding the Center into new ventures in outreach, education, and communication. The updated and improved website and recently launched Mobile-Ready accessibility announced last month are just a few of these positive changes.As I step into some very large shoes, I will keep and plan to accelerate the pace of positive change and how we interact with our base and emerging clientele. One of my goals is to broaden the level of involvement among our basic and our applied and extension faculty and use the PTC platform to distill, translate, and disseminate emerging technology advancements to a broader industry audience. Carrying on from what Beth has started, our capacity to extend knowledge and our ability to be both innovative and responsive to internal and external stakeholders will require a greater level of change in how we function. With the shifting priorities of postharvest management in both a local and global economy, we need to drive internal change to keep pace.While preserving the current organization and goals of the Postharvest Technology Center, my strategy moving forward will be to broaden our function as a hub for postharvest quality and produce safety expertise, applied technology systems, and instructional extension excellence across institutions, disciplines, and go further to bring diverse industry expertise into guiding our path forward. I especially look forward to the collective support of colleagues across the UC and CA State University system, serving and interacting with the postharvest community in the future."Our more than best wishes for both.