Elsa Murano

Elsa Murano
Elsa Alina Murano (born Elsa Alina Casales de la Caridad; August 14, 1959) has been the Director of the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture & Development at Texas A&M University's Agriculture & Life Sciences program since 2012. She was the 23rd president of Texas A&M University from January 3, 2008, until her effective resignation on June 15, 2009.
From August 2021 to June 2022, she temporarily stepped away from the Institute to assume the role of Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives at Texas A&M's Agriculture & Life Sciences program, where she focused on federal initiatives engagement.
Before her current directorship at the Institute, Murano held multiple key positions. She was the President of Texas A&M University from 2008 to 2009, the Vice Chancellor and Dean of Texas A&M's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences from 2005 to 2007, and the U.S. Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety from 2001 to 2004.
In 2006, Murano joined the board of directors at Hormel Foods.
Early life and education
Elsa Alina Casales de la Caridad was born August 14, 1959, in Havana, Cuba, eight months after the end of the Cuban Revolution. Her family fled Cuba on July 4, 1961, moving first to Curaçao and later to Colombia, where her father worked for IBM. Subsequently, they moved to Peru and El Salvador before settling in Puerto Rico where Elsa began kindergarten.
Following her parents divorce in 1973, Elsa relocated with her mother and three siblings in Miami, Florida. Despite speaking little English upon arrival, she quickly attained fluency and enrolled at West Miami Junior High School. Her mother, employed as a security guard and department store clerk, emphasized the importance of education, encouraging her children to graduate high school, attend college, and capitalize on the opportunities available in their adopted homeland.
Elsa excelled academically, graduating in the top 10% of her class from Coral Park Senior High School in 1977. Subsequently, she enrolled full-time at Miami Dade College, a local junior college, while working 30 hours a week at Kelly Tractor Company in the Service Department. After earning her associate degree from Miami-Dade, she transferred to Florida International University (FIU), supporting her education through loans and scholarships. Elsa completed her bachelor's degree in biological sciences at FIU in 1981.
Originally intending to pursue a career in medicine as a pre-med Biology major, Elsa developed a keen interest in research after participating in a project exploring the potential of CBD and THC extracts in preventing tumor formation in predisposed mice. This shift in interest led her to enroll in the graduate program at Virginia Tech where she received a master's degree in anaerobic microbiology in 1987. Her studies focused on the role of bacterial cell walls in stimulating the immune system for tumor prevention.
Elsa furthered her academic journey by earning a doctorate in food science and technology in 1990, specializing in food safety. During her time in graduate school in 1985, she married Peter Murano, a fellow student she had met at FIU. Peter later became a professor of Nutrition and Food Science at Texas A&M University and served as Deputy Administrator of Food and Nutrition Service at USDA. In his role, he oversaw the National School Lunch Program, WIC, and other initiatives under President George W. Bush's administration.
Professorships and USDA
From 1990 to 1995, Elsa Alina Murano served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Preventive Medicine at Iowa State University. Concurrently, she held the position of Researcher-in-Charge at the Food Irradiation Facility. Murano was granted tenure at Iowa State in less than five years.
Murano was subsequently recruited by Texas A&M University, where she served as Associate Professor of Food Science & Technology in the Department of Animal Science and Associate Director of the Center for Food Safety within the Institute for Food Science and Engineering. She later served as the Director of the center from 1997 to 2001. In this role, she facilitated the establishment of a cutting-edge electron beam food irradiation facility on campus in collaboration with Surebeam, a facility that continues to operate to this day.. In recognition of her leadership in research, administration, and education, Murano was promoted to Full Professor and awarded the Sadie Hatfield Endowed Professorship in Agriculture.In 2001, President George W. Bush acknowledging Murano's expertise in her field, appointed her as the Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). As the highest-ranking U.S. official for food safety, she represented U.S. food safety policy in international standard-setting organizations, such as the Codex Alimentarius Commission. Murano oversaw Food Safety and Inspection Service policies, ensuring that U.S. meat products met safety, wholesomeness, and packaging standards.
Under Murano's leadership, the number of food recalls—which had been increasing since the mid-1990s—decreased by over 50%, dropping from 113 in 2002 to fewer than 50 in 2004. Significantly, the rate of illnesses caused by E. coli O157:H7 decreased by 42%, meeting the CDC's Healthy People 2010 Goals for foodborne illnesses due to this organism six years ahead of schedule. Moreover, Murano introduced regulations that effectively controlled contamination of meat products with Listeria monocytogenes.
After the first case of mad cow disease was detected in the U.S., Murano and her team at the Food Safety and Inspection Service swiftly developed regulations that successfully prevented it from entering the food supply.. At the end of President Bush's first term in office, Murano returned to Texas A&M University, where she assumed the position of Vice Chancellor and Dean of Agriculture & Life Sciences.
Return to Texas A&M
In January 2005, Dr. Murano made her return to Texas A&M University, making history as the first woman and first Hispanic to hold the position of Vice Chancellor of Agricultural and Life Sciences in the Texas A&M University System. Additionally, she took on the roles of Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Director of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. In these positions, Dr. Murano executed a series of substantial changes that revitalized the university: she halted the declining trend in student enrollment within the College of Agriculture, procured over $40 million for a bio-fuels research initiative from private sources, raised legislative appropriations by 26%, and secured $50 million from the Texas A&M System to construct a new Agriculture Headquarters Complex.
Her remarkable achievements led her to be the sole candidate for the Texas A&M presidency in December 2007, previously held by Robert Gates, who vacated the position in 2006 to become the U.S. Secretary of Defense. The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents voted 8–1 in support of her. Once Murano had taken full duties as president on January 3, 2008, she became the first female, the first Hispanic-American, and the first person under the age of 50 to serve in the position.
During her inaugural year, President Murano spearheaded a university-wide strategic planning initiative[^6^]. She engaged the active participation of each college's deans, culminating in a plan aligned with the goals of Vision 2020 (https://www.aggienetwork.com/media/guides/texas%20aggie/2009/0109%20orange%20maroon%20legislative%20day.pdf). As a direct result of President Murano's efforts, Texas A&M's ranking in U.S. News & World Report rose from 25th to 21st during her tenure.
Ground-breaking Tuition program
Starting with the incoming freshmen in the Fall of 2008, Murano eliminated tuition for A&M students whose parents earn less than $60,000 annually, utilizing federally provided funds to cover these costs. Although some voiced criticism for this action, citing that a student's ability to pay for tuition is not necessarily dependent on the financial situation of his or her parents, President Murano's policy was ultimately proven to be ahead of its time and visionary. In 2019, this concept was implemented at the University of Texas, prompting many to ask whether Texas A&M would follow suit. John Sharp, current Chancellor of Texas A&M confirmed that the "Aggie Assurance Program" that was started by President Murano ten years earlier was still very much in effect and was evidence that Texas A&M was ahead of UT, having allowed over 33,000 undergraduate students from families earning less than $60,000 a year to attend college tuition free (Caller Times https://www.caller.com/story/opinion/2019/07/15/yes-texas-a-m-has-tuition-free-program-similar-uts/1738601001/).
MSC renovation plan and fundraising accomplishments
As of 2009, the Memorial Student Center building, often referred to as the University's "living room", was in significant need of structural repairs and upgrades to house the ever-growing student body. The project, originally spearheaded by former Vice President of Student Affairs Dean Bresciani, was initially proposed with partial access to the facility during renovation. One year after the project had been voted on by the student body, however, no progress had been made. When Murano became President, she met with the architects and developers, and learned that the job might require different plans than had been presented to the students a year before by the previous administration. For one, the building was full of asbestos, so in order to maintain safety during removal, the entire building would need to be closed down during renovation. President Murano's plan was implemented and the MSC was fully renovated ahead of schedule and at a lower cost than anticipated. Today, it stands as one of the most significant symbols of Aggie pride on campus. In addition, Murano secured funding to renovate Military Walk on campus, as well as obtained a donation from the Soltis family of property in the rainforest of Costa Rica, which currently serves as a training facility for students with regard to wildlife conservation and international collaboration.
Return to the Faculty
On June 14, 2009, due to substantial differences between Murano and then chancellor of the Texas A&M System, Mike McKinney, she resigned her position as president of Texas A&M. After her resignation she released a statement.
It was known that Dr. Murano disagreed with Chancellor McKinney regarding critical issues. Perhaps the most significant was his view that faculty should be assigned either research or teaching duties (not both). Murano argued that this would be extremely detrimental to Texas A&M, given that faculty would vehemently object to it, resulting in many leaving their positions. She argued that the university's reputation would be severely damaged, changing it from a tier 1 research and academic institution to a junior college. It became known that Chancellor McKinney had often stated the desire for regents to consider merging the positions of chancellor and president to save money. Such a statement raised a lot of suspicions as to whether McKinney had been planning this from the start of President Murano's tenure, engaging in policies designed to challenge her so that she would either be President in name only, or cause her to resign so he could assume both positions and thereby be in complete control of the University, enabling him to make whatever changes, essentially ignoring the principle of shared governance. For her part, President Murano argued that Chancellor McKinney would frequently exclude her from decisions, working out secret agreements with private companies to commercialize scientific advances, providing them with university funds without any due process or input by her administration. She argued that McKinney seemed to have hidden agendas and that his style was as far from shared governance as one could fathom. On June 9, 2009, the Faculty Senate at Texas A&M University met and issued a vote of "no confidence" on Chancellor McKinney, as well as a statement of full support for President Murano. Many senators said that Murano was obviously being punished because she defended the viewpoint of the faculty with regard to the programs that McKinney was clearly forcing into existence for his own political gain, as well as for defending the integrity of the University's mission to her superiors. Professor Angie Hill-Price, Speaker of the Faculty Senate, drew applause at the Faculty Senate meeting after comments in which she called McKinney's review of President Murano "completely unprofessional". She stated, "Murano has always worked very hard to engage faculty, she understands what shared governance means, and she's worked very hard implementing that at the university. And I think she's paying a price for working with the faculty" (The Eagle, June 9, 2009).
Upon her return to the faculty as a professor, the Board of Regents awarded her the title of President Emerita. Murano was very well received by the faculty, and within a few months was successful in restarting her research program by securing a $1.2M grant from USDA as the lead investigator of a consortium of Texas A&M scientists to work on determining how microbial pathogens contaminate produce in the field. This surprised no one, as Murano's colleagues were well versed about her abilities as a scientist and her determination to succeed. About a year later, a new Board of Regents officially told Chancellor McKinney to resign from his position, which faculty and staff publicly praised and saw as vindication for their vote of "no-confidence" on McKinney, their continued support for Murano, and the recognition of her courage to do what was right to protect and elevate the University in spite of personal cost, which is exemplary of several core values of Texas A&M University, namely "selfless service" and "integrity".
Director of the Norman E. Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture
In 2012, Professor Murano was asked to serve as Director of the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture by then Vice Chancellor and Dean of Agriculture Mark Hussey. She very successfully serves in this position, leading her team in projects in developing countries, securing more than $150M in federal funding since becoming Director. The Borlaug Institute works in Africa, Central America and the Caribbean, and Asia in projects including production of agricultural crops and livestock, irrigation strategies involving mathematical modeling, compliance with food safety standards, nutrition, trade, education, and youth and gender issues. These accomplishments are credited to Murano's leadership, who is known for working tirelessly to continue to follow the legacy of Norman Borlaug to elevate small-holder farmers out of poverty and hunger through science. In September 2021, she was asked to temporarily serve as Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives by then Vice Chancellor and Dean Patrick Stover. In that role, Murano spear-headed several projects, including the re-establishment of a process for faculty involvement in the preparation of initiatives for submission as part of the Congressional Community Projects Program, as well as a major proposal submitted to USDA for funding on climate-smart agriculture strategies. Murano assembled the team of faculty, providing them guidance and support. She appointed Dr. Julie Howe as the Principal Investigator, culminating in a $65M award. After these major accomplishments, Dr. Murano then resumed her position as Director of the Borlaug Institute in July 2022, which is now considered one of the leading international agriculture university-based programs in the U.S.
Other Significant Professional Activities and Recognitions
In 2005, Murano was awarded the "American By Choice" Award by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of the Department of Homeland Security, along with Nobel Prize Laureate Eli Wiesel. In 2008, along with Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Murano was inducted into the Texas Woman of the Year Hall of Fame. That same year, she was named to the Carnegie Corporation of New York's list of "Great Immigrants, Great Americans". Murano has been named Outstanding Alumna of all three of the institutions where she earned her degrees. In 2008, she was named Outstanding Alumna of Florida International University, where she earned her Bachelor's of Science degree in 1981, receiving the FIU Medallion at a ceremony on campus. In 2009, Murano was inducted into the Miami-Dade College Alumni Hall of Fame, where she had earned an Associate of Arts degree in 1979. Murano was then awarded the Virginia Tech's College of Agriculture & Life Sciences Outstanding Alumna in the Global Community in 2022 at its Celebration of Ut Prosim event at the institution where she earned both her Master's degree in Anaerobic Microbiology (1987) and her PhD degree in Food Science & Technology (1990).
Dr. Murano has been the invited speaker in almost 200 venues, such as servings as commencement speaker at Texas A&M University in 2007, Florida International University in 2008, Virginia Tech in 2009, and El Zamorano University in 2023. In addition to her professional appointments during her career, Murano has been serving on the Board of Hormel Foods Corporation since 2006, on the Board of Food Safety Net Services from 2010 to 2021, and on the Food Safety Advisory Board for Ecolab, Inc. In 2019, she was elected Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of the International Livestock Research Institute, a research center that is part of the CGIAR System. She was subsequently elected Chair in 2021, and has been extended to serve until 2024. Evident of her standing in the field of food safety, agriculture, as well as in academia and government service, Murano was asked to serve on an advisory committee to NASA's Food Production Laboratory to help identify issues to be considered in developing foods for long-term missions to Mars. In 2018, Murano was named "Maestro of Community Service" by Latino Leaders Magazine's Maestro Awards, and selected as Women Inc. Magazine's "One of the Most Influential Corporate Board Directors". In 2019, in recognition of her many accomplishments as Undersecretary, Murano was inducted into the Meat Industry Hall of Fame.
In 2020, Murano was appointed to the Council of Advisors to the Director General of the Interamerican Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA), as a member of the Steering Committee for the Global Confederation of Higher Education Associations for Agricultural and Life Sciences (GCHERA), as a member of the Council of Advisors to the World Food Prize Foundation, considered to be the "Nobel prize" of agriculture, and as a member of the Board of Semilla Nueva, a non-profit organization focused on providing improved corn varieties to farmers in Guatemala
References
External links
Office of the President, Texas A&M University
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1959 births
Cuban emigrants to the United States
Florida International University people
George W. Bush administration personnel
Living people
Miami Dade College alumni
People from Miami
Presidents of Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University System
Texas A&M University faculty
Texas Republicans
Virginia Tech alumni