I am truly honored to serve as the president of ARPAS for the coming year and look forward to working with the other officers, directors, and committee members.  Thanks to John Bernard for his service as ARPAS president for the past year.

Congratulations to our newly elected officers (Al Kertz -- President-Elect; Mo Bakke – Secretary; Dana Tomlinson – Treasurer; Patrick French – ACAS President) and Directors (Dwight Roseler – Midwest; Tom Hickley – Northeast; Heidi Rossow – West; and Daniel Rivera – Southern).  I look forward to working with them and other members of the Governing Council over the next year.  Thanks to the outgoing officers and to those that were willing to run for office for their service to ARPAS.

The new name of the ARPAS journal will be the Journal of Applied Animal Science (JAAS) beginning January 2019. This change was approved by the Governing Council at the annual meeting in June, following survey input from the ARPAS membership. The new name catalyzes several other changes to the ARPAS journal that will appear early next year including a new cover; a new definition of the applied scope, focus, and value proposition of the journal; a new table of contents (scientific content: food science; forages and feeds; genetics; health and well-being; integrated systems – production and management; nutrition; physiology; sustainability; and, welfare and behavior) and a new editorial board structure to align with the table of contents; and, new description of responsibilities and instructions for authors and reviewers for submission and review of manuscripts. A new feature will be “Experts from the Field,” where ARPAS members will be commissioned to provide publishable comments about the particular relevance and potential impact to the animal sciences and production systems of some published journal articles.