The 100 Year Decision

ON JUNE 15, 2009, Texas A&M University made the seemingly insignifi cant announcement that R. Bowen Loftin, a bespectacled vice president with several physics degrees, had been promoted to serve as interim president of the College Station campus. No one could have predicted at the time that the bowtie-adorned, self-proclaimed technology and computer "geek" would emerge from obscurity to lead A&M on one of the most signifi cant and landscape altering journeys in the history of the high-stakes world of college athletic conferences. The 100-Year Decision: Texas A&M and the SEC is Loftin's compelling, fi rst-person account of the events that led to A&M's historic exit from the Big 12 Conference and its entry into the prestigious SEC. In this candid memoir, readers witness what happened in the closed-door meetings that fed this Texas-sized controversy, with all the deception, manipulation, political pressure, and deal-making anyone could expect. R. BOWEN LOFTIN, a 1970 graduate of Texas A&M University, served as president of Texas A&M from 2010 to the end of 2013, following eight months as interim president and four years as a university vice president assigned as the chief executive offi cer of Texas A&M's Galveston branch campus, where he was also a professor of maritime systems engineering. Loftin became chancellor of the University of Missouri on February 1, 2014. RUSTY BURSON covered Texas A&M athletics for more than 20 years in newspapers and at 12th Man Magazine. He has authored 15 books previously, most associated with Texas A&M and Aggie athletics.

The compelling, first-person account of the events that led to A&M's historic, high-stakes exit from the Big 12 conference and its entry into the SEC.

As national and international concern over sustainable resources becomes more prevalent, the need for decision support systems (DSS) increases. The applicable uses of a successful system can assist in the sustainability of resources, as well as the efficiency and management of the agri-environment industry. Decision Support Systems in Agriculture, Food and the Environment: Trends, Applications and Advances presents the development of DSS for managing agricultural and environmental systems, focusing on the exposition of innovative methodologies, from web-mobile systems to artificial intelligence and knowledge-based DSS, as well as their applications in every aspect from harvest planning to international food production and land management. This book provides an in depth look into the growing importance of DSS in agriculture.

A comprehensive analysis of the macroeconomic and financial forces altering the economic landscape Financial decision-making requires one to anticipate how their decision will not only affect their business, but also the economic environment. Unfortunately, all too often, both private and public sector decision-makers view their decisions as one-off responses and fail to see their decisions within the context of an evolving decision-making framework. In Decision-Making in a Dynamic Economic Setting, John Silvia, Chief Economist of Wells Fargo and one of the top 5 economic forecasters according to Bloomberg News and USA Today, skillfully puts this discipline in perspective. Details realistic, decision-making approaches and applications under a broad set of economic scenarios Analyzes monetary policy and addresses the impact of financial regulations Examines business cycles and how to identify economic trends, how to deal with uncertainty and manage risk, the building blocks of growth, and strategies for innovation Decision-Making in a Dynamic Economic Setting details the real-world application of economic principles and financial strategy in making better business decisions.

"Building on research from Presidencies Derailed: Why University Leaders Fail and How to Prevent It, Gerald B. Kauvar, Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, and E. Gordon Gee approach the matter of college and university leadership from a positive angle: what lessons can we learn from successful college and university leaders? The rolodex of authors--a veritable Who's Who in American Higher Education today--reveal the secret to success in leading institutions with real-life examples. Not content with vague answers or clichéd platitudes, the authors provide specifics on a list of core questions: how do you manage college athletics, the faculty, a governing board, donors, and a local community? How do you control an institutional budget and investment portfolio? What do you need to know about crisis management and legal affairs? When should you be outspoken in the media and when should you shut up? Leading Colleges and Universities is a primer on how successful presidents lead successful schools"--

This book tells the story of some people who went west in 1846. 1846 saw the outbreak of the war with Mexico, Fremont and the Bear Flag Revolt, a great Oregon and California emigration, the conquest of New Mexico, Doniphan's expedition, and the tragedy of the Donner party of emigrants--half adults, half childrens. These narratives are told as stories in themselves, as related parts of the great national spectacle, and as the culmination of the whole movement of American westward migration from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

This book introduces the concept of hazards as part of the earth’s natural systems, in contrast to "disasters," which occur at the intersection of the built and natural environments. It emphasizes choices made by society that either increase or diminish our level of vulnerability to the impacts of hazards, and the role of the emergency manager in how these choices are made and acted upon. The book defines key concepts including mitigation, preparedness, resilience, vulnerability, and explains the role of the emergency manager in putting these principles into practice.