Elsa Alina Murano (born Elsa Alina Casales; August 14, 1959) is a Cuban-born American executive who has been the Director of the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture & Development at the Texas A&M University’s Agriculture & Life Sciences program since 2012.[1] Prior to that, she served as the 23rd President of Texas A&M University from January 3, 2008, until her resignation on June 15, 2009.[2][3][4]
From August 2021 to June 2022, she temporarily stepped away from her duties in 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.[5]
Dr. Murano also served as the Vice Chancellor and Dean of Texas A&M's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences from 2005 to 2007, and as the U.S. Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety from 2001 to 2004.[6]
Following her parents' divorce in 1973, Murano relocated with her mother and three siblings to Miami, Florida where she graduated from Coral Park Senior High School in 1977. She then attended Miami Dade College, a local junior college, while working 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. Murano completed her bachelor's degree in biological sciences at FIU in 1981.[citation needed]
Originally intending to pursue a career in medicine, Murano developed an 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 earned 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.[citation needed]
Murano earned a doctorate in food science and technology in 1990, specializing in food safety.[9] 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, she oversaw the National School Lunch Program, WIC, and other initiatives under President George W. Bush's administration.[citation needed]
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.[10] Murano was granted tenure at Iowa State in less than five years.[citation needed].
Murano then became Associate Professor of Food Science & Technology in the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University, where she also served as 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 an electron beam food irradiation facility on campus.[citation needed] Murano then became a Full Professor and was awarded the Sadie Hatfield Endowed Professorship in Agriculture.[citation needed] In 2001, President George W. Bush named Murano 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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed] Moreover, Murano introduced regulations that effectively controlled contamination of meat products with Listeria monocytogenes.[citation needed]
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 developed regulations that helped preventing it from entering the food supply.[citation needed] 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.[11]
Return to Texas A&M
In January 2005, Dr. Murano became 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.[9]
During her inaugural year, President Murano spearheaded a university-wide strategic planning initiative. She engaged the active participation of each college's deans, culminating in a plan aligned with the goals of Vision 2020. As a direct result of President Murano's efforts, Texas A&M's ranking in U.S. News & World Report rose from 24th to 21st during her tenure.[citation needed]
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 is clear that the differences in policy between myself and System Chancellor McKinney are insurmountable. My aim has been and always will be to do all I can to protect and enhance the reputation of this great university that I love so much. It is because of my deep and abiding passion for what the university represents, and for the people of the Aggie family, which reinforces my duty to do what is best for the University. Given that there seems to be significant differences of opinion and approaches between me and the Chancellor with respect to what is best for Texas A&M, I will be resigning as President of our beloved university, effective tomorrow, June 15, 2009, to return to the faculty."[14]
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.[citation needed] 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 she 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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] 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).[citation needed]
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".[citation needed]
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 $130M 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.[citation needed]
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).[citation needed]
Dr. Murano has been the invited speaker in over 200 venues, such as serving 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. She currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maiz y Trigo (CIMMYT). 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.[citation needed]
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.[15] In 2023, Dr. Murano was included in Arnhilda Badia's "Cuban American Women Making History", a book that describes the contributions of outstanding leaders in a variety of fields, including famous people like Gloria Estefan and former Congresswoman Ileana Ross-Lehtinen. She was also appointed a Fellow of the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at the George H.W. Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.[citation needed]
