Tamarack River Ghost: A Novel

11. Research Proposal

67 Research Proposal 11 What’s up?” asked Randy as he walked from the Agriculture Hall lecture room with Emily. Josh had said his goodbyes and was on his way back to Willow River. “Dr. Evans called while you were in class,” she said. She was still out of breath, obviously having run from Randy’s third-floor office, where her desk was just outside his office door. “What?” asked Randy. Emily, who had bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Ohio State University, had begun working with Randy at the beginning of the fall semester. Randy had been impressed with her academic record—more than one reference described her as brilliant. Dr. Evans had assigned Emily to Randy when she first arrived. “You’ve got some common interests,” he had said. They did have common interests. At Ohio State, Emily studied integrated farming systems, an area of inquiry she wished to continue at Wisconsin. When Randy reviewed her application to the department, he noted that she was the same age as he was, thirty-two. He was a little concerned about that; he expected to work with graduate students some years younger. But the two of them had gotten along very well. Randy had taken a little ribbing from some of his friends because not only was Emily brilliant, she was also beautiful. Randy, always the scholar, had scarcely taken time to look at any woman. For the past five years, his graduate studies and research had consumed nearly all his time. And now, as a new assistant professor, Randy knew that he had to work exceedingly hard if he was to earn tenure and a permanent teaching/research slot in his department. 68 Research Proposal “So, what’s up?” he asked again. “Our research proposal to National Affiliated Hog Producers has been approved. Can you believe it? We’re getting the money,” she gushed. “Thanks to your hard work,” Randy said, smiling broadly. “They were your ideas, Dr. Oakfield. Ideas that for sure caught their attention.” The two climbed the stairs to Randy’s office. Randy slid into the chair behind his desk, and Emily sat across from him. They both knew that lots of work lay ahead, for putting together a research project was no small task. They also knew that both of them would benefit greatly from the project—he on his way to gaining tenure, she getting research data for her dissertation. Dr. Evans poked his head in. “Congratulations, Randy. I got the news this morning that your proposal was approved. Let me know how I can help further.” “Thanks, we appreciate your support. Looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us,” Randy said. He looked at Emily when he said it. Randy was a little skittish about National Affiliated Hog Producers as a funding source for the project; its members consisted of the major hog producers in the United States, including Nathan West Industries. But Evans as well as the staff at National Affiliated Hog Producers had assured him there would be no conflict of interest. “You have complete freedom to develop the project as you see fit—following the plan you submitted to us, of course,” the NAHP research project coordinator said. When Randy had mentioned the potential conflict of interest of the pork industry financing a research project about attitudes toward big pork producers, the department chair scoffed. “It’s dang hard to find financing these days. The federal government is cutting back on research. The state hasn’t got any money. I suppose we could have submitted the proposal to one of the big environmental groups, but they are so biased against big agriculture that you’d have a tough time running the project without them interfering.” Randy agreed Evans was probably right. He wanted to say that maybe the big producers might be a bit biased in what they wanted to see as 69 Research Proposal research results as well, but he decided not to bring up the topic. He didn’t want to do anything to prevent the research money from coming in—he needed the funding. In addition to this research project, he was also developing a new theoretical model for explaining the economics of integrated agricultural systems. Data from the new research project could feed into his new model. That afternoon Randy and Emily worked on finalizing the survey instrument they planned...