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Board of Directors

• Board of Directors
• Current Board Members

A Board of Directors is established within each regional center. NRAC’s Board of Directors is composed of nine members: two representing the Northeast Regional Agricultural Experiment Station Directors, two representing the Northeast Regional Extension Directors, one representing the Northeast Sea Grant Directors, one administrator representing the Northeast 1890 Land Grant Institutions, one representing the aquaculture industry,  one representing the ARS aquaculture program in the Northeast, and one representative of the Dean of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Maryland.  Board members are appointed for four terms. 

The Board of Directors is the primary management group for NRAC. The Board of Directors duties include:

1. Determine NRAC administrative and management policy
2. Review NRAC’s annual plan of work and project selection
3. Approve NRAC’s annual budget
4. Allocate fiscal resources to ensure that the Center develops strong programs in research and extension that result in potential economic development of the aquaculture industry
5. Charge the Technical and Industry Advisory Committees to work with researchers, industry representatives, extension faculty, and others to establish regional research and extension priorities for NRAC
6. Provide annual input to the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources of the University of Maryland regarding the performance of the Center Director. 

The Board will:

• Be responsible for overall administration and management of the regional center program;
• Establish overall regional aquacultural research, development and extension goals and allocate fiscal resources to ensure that the center develops strong programs both in research and in extension;
• Establish priorities for regional aquacultural research and extension education activities based on inputs from the TIAC and guidance from the National Aquaculture Development Plan;
• Review and approve annual regional plans of work and annual accomplishment reports.

Term of Appointment:

The Dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Maryland College Park or his/her designee will be the chair of the BOD for the first four years.  Subsequently, the BOD will elect a Chair from within the BOD membership who will serve a three year term. The remaining board members will be appointed on a four year cycle except for the first four years.  During the first four years appointments will be staggered to assure continuity on the BOD.  Initially, one Experiment Station Director, the Sea Grant Director, and the administrator from the private institution will serve a two year terms; one Extension Station Director, the ARS representative, and the 1890 representative will serve three year terms; and the remaining Experiment Station Director and Extension Director will serve four year terms. Thereafter all appointees will serve four year terms.  It is recommended that BOD members be limited to serving not more that two full or partial (in the case where a position is filled by a resignation prior to the term expiring) terms except for the representative of the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources University of Maryland who will be a permanent representative. The chairs of the TAC and IAC are determined by their respective committees.

Method of Appointment:

At the appropriate time, the NRAC Director will request the Northeastern Association of Experiment Station Directors and the Northeastern Regional Extension Directors Associations to provide the names of Experiment Station Directors and Extension Directors, respectively, to serve on the BOD.  Similarly, the 1890 representative from the Northeast Region will be provided by the 1890 Land Grant Association, and the private university or institution representative will elected by the BOD from nominations submitted, upon request by the Director of NRAC, by private educational and research institutions in the Northeast Region.  The Directors of the ARS aquaculture programs in the Northeast Region will be asked to submit a nomination for the ARS representative.  The NRAC Director will contact the Sea Grant Directors in the Northeast and request a nomination be submitted to fill the Sea Grant Director BOD position.  The Chairs of the TIC and TAC will be elected by the TIC and TAC.

Current Board Members 

For more information, contact Sharon S. Adams

Last updated: 03/10/2009