Dr. Steven Muzatko, associate professor of accounting, was introduced last week as the inaugural H.B. Foster Bowdon Professor of Accounting, a position endowed through the historic 2018 gift from alumnus Neil Griffin of Kerrville, Texas. Muzatko earned his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he received the Douglas Clarke Memorial Teaching Award. More details about Muzatko, the Bowdon Professorship and Griffin's generosity are online.

Congratulations to staff members in Finance and Administration, along with their counterparts at the other Arkansas State University System campuses, who contributed to the System's comprehensive annual financial report. In recognition of their excellent work, the Government Finance Officers Association has once again awarded the System with its Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. An impartial GFOA panel determined the report met the high standards of the program, which includes demonstrating a constructive spirit of full disclosure to clearly communicate and motivate potential users and user groups to read the report.

Dr. Argelia Lorence, professor of metabolic engineering and James and Wanda Lee Vaughn Professor, was a member of the Plant Summit 2019 team that developed a vision for the advancement of plant science during the next decade in the United States. Their peer-reviewed paper is "Plant science decadal vision 2020-2030: Reimagining the potential of plants for a healthy and sustainable future." The abstract is online.

A grant proposal by Dr. Than Boves, associate professor of wildlife ecology, has been approved by the Kays Foundation board. The $8,400 grant will support his project, “Uncovering the factors associated with host-switching of specialized parasites,” which is a study of one lineage of feather mites and a set of 50 closely related avian host species of warblers to examine how parasites can switch hosts or even species.

During the Arkansas State University Board of Trustees meeting Friday, Chancellor Kelly Damphousse presented a video report on numerous faculty, staff and student achievements during the quarter since the last meeting. In spite of the numerous adjustments that have been necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic, he still had a number of campus developments to share with the Board. The video is also available online.