Harlene Hatterman-Valenti, assistant department chair and professor of high value crop production, took over the presidency of the NDSU Faculty Senate at the group’s May 6 meeting. She will serve in the position through the 2013-14 academic year.

Hatterman-Valenti, who accepted the gavel from outgoing president Tom Stone Carlson, professor of human development and family science, outlined her goals as she succeeds Carlson and former president Gary Totten, associate professor of English.

“First and foremost, I want to continue to raise the Faculty Senate profile as an engaged, productive and needed participant in the university’s shared governance. Secondly, I want to continue to focus on faculty and how their contributions are integral to the quality and success of NDSU,” Hatterman-Valenti said. “Lastly, I want to continue the efforts of Tom and Gary to include faculty on university committees as a way to insure the benefit of faculty consultation in decisions with potential for significant impact to the campus.”

Hatterman-Valenti joined NDSU’s Department of Plant Sciences in 2000. She earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Nebraska, Kearney, her master’s degree in horticulture from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and her doctorate in agronomy crop production and physiology/horticulture at Iowa State University.

Hatterman-Valenti is the faculty adviser to the NDSU Horticulture Club and Sigma Alpha Professional Agricultural Sorority, and she is a member of the Weed Science Society of America, North Central Weed Science Society, American Society of Enology and Viticulture, Eastern Section American Society of Enology and Viticulture, Horticultural Society of America, Potato Association of America, North Dakota Horticulture Society, Minnesota Fruit and Vegetable Grower's Association and North Dakota Nursery and Greenhouse Association.

NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.