COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - Brady Deaton has been leading his namesake institution that targets international development since his retirement last year as chancellor of the University of Missouri.
University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe said after Deaton retired that the university was honoring Deaton with a new program, the Brady and Anne Deaton Institute for Leadership and International Development. The organization focuses on how the university can be more effective in influencing international development in areas such as food security and economic development.
The institute had a $301,921 operating budget for FY2015, with about $236,000 going toward Deaton's salary and benefits, The Columbia Daily Tribune reported (http://bit.ly/1pMPjMe). The budget includes $25,236 for unspecified operating expenses and $3,500 for equipment.
Deaton so far has divided his time between Columbia and traveling to conferences or events. Deaton said his job is to advocate for the university and be a liaison between the research community, the policy community and the university. He said he's made several major presentations around the country.
"I'm trying to get as familiar as possible with the range of research we're doing at the university so I know what we're on the cutting edge of," Deaton said. "I've done a lot of relationship building and information collecting. I take all of what I've learned about what we're doing and bring it with me to meetings and conferences."
He and Kattesh Katti, a University of Missouri curator's professor of radiology and physics, also received a speaking request from Gov. Jay Nixon to present what they've learned about green nanotechnology, a field that connects agriculture with emerging technology.
"It's important that someone from our campus is working on these issues," Katti said. "That's how we make higher education sustainable. It's not enough to do research and teach anymore, we need to be involved in helping the economic development of our state."