Schellhaass Urges Member Involvement, Celebrates Achievements
by Mary Ellen Kuhn
posted on June 7, 2009
Following a year filled with change and challenge, IFT members must take the initiative in areas ranging from food science to food safety, said IFT President Sheri Schellhaass, speaking Saturday evening, June 6, at the annual Awards Celebration.
“We cannot stand along the sidelines waiting to be asked to comment,” said Schellhaass. “We cannot find comfort in the hallowed halls of universities, the closed communities of industry, or the politics and under resourcing of our government agencies,” Schellhaass continued. “We must embrace our responsibility as a society and as a collective community.”
Schellhaass then recapped some of IFT’s achievements over the course of the past year, including the following highlights.
• IFT’s Current and Emerging Issues Advisory Panel completed its work to identify and prioritize current and emerging food science and technology issues that require science-based solutions.
• The second annual Wellness Conference in March 2009 drew a crowd of nearly 300 professionals.
• The IFT Foundation provided 112 scholarships totaling more than $170,000 during the 2008–09 academic year. And IFT Divisions and Sections provided an additional $125,000 in support of students.
• IFT’s New Professionals Community, which aims at mentoring recent graduates and those who’ve been in the industry for less than a decade, now has 600 members and an electronic newsletter, Eat Your Words.
• To ensure a high level of skilled food science practitioners in the future, IFT has created a Certification Feasibility Advisory Panel.
• The Annual Meeting & Food Expo’s new IPEX session is bringing together innovators who hold food science and technology intellectual property, and Trend Tours that make it easier for Expo attendees to find information on important industry issues are being introduced this year.
• IFT’s Media Relations program delivered 300 media placements via online, print, radio, and television in just the first four months of 2009.
• The IFT Global Strategy Advisory Panel was created in part to define the organization’s strategy for operating in a global environment.
Schellhaass concluded her presentation with a salute to IFT’s membership. “More members than ever before are contributing to the achievement of our mission and goals,” she said. “I am extremely confident in the level of commitment, determination, and drive among our volunteer members, leadership, and staff.”
Following her state-of-the-institute address, Schellhaass paid tribute to the evening’s honorees—the recipients of the 2009 IFT Achievement Awards and IFT Fellows designation. She then recognized IFT’s immediate Past President John Floros with a plaque presentation. Also acknowledged at the Awards Celebration were the 2009 recipients of the IFT Student Association and Campbell’s Excellence in Leadership Award, graduate student Laura K. Strawn from the University of Florida and undergraduate student Melvany Kasih from Cornell University.