Chasing the best there is to chase.

Welcome back to the Mailbag!

Today we're talking about excellence and a way to look at it that we found interesting. 

A few months back we had the pleasure of sitting with Clint Krehbiel for an interview on a different story. Krehbiel is the dean of the Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources and, when we get a chance to sit with a dean we try to make good use of it. 

While we weren't there to talk exclusively about future plans for Davis College, Krehbiel took the time to outline a vision and a new way of looking at things. 

He and the leadership team for the college call it the Pursuit of Prime. 

Any loyal Mailbag reader will know that this tugged at our heartstrings a little bit. We love food and food metaphors around here, and a prime cut of steak is enough to make us weak in the knees. 

For those who don't know already – and let's be honest here, we're talking to a Texas Tech University crowd, so we're really hoping you know – prime is the beef we're all looking for. It's the top of the heap. Only about 10% of beef grades as prime. And when you have prime beef, you can tell the difference. 

But from a Davis College perspective, the Pursuit of Prime is an ambitious goal to be in the top 10% in every area, not just in the beef realm. 

“If we want to be a prime college of agricultural sciences and natural resources and get to that top 10%, if you look at the total number of colleges in the country in those categories, there are 82 or so, depending on how you count them,” Krehbiel said. “So that top 10% moves us into a very high rank. In specific areas, I believe we can do even better than that. But if we don't set our goal or vision towards prime, we will never move up in those rankings.” 

The mindset of chasing top-10 rankings is one we applaud. We know people like Krehbiel don't take that challenge lightly. It requires a lot of commitment to reach ambitious goals. 

To that end, we don't take the responsibility of highlighting the process of getting there lightly either. 

Over the coming months and years, we'll use this space and others to help you follow the Pursuit of Prime. 

It should be a heck of a ride. 

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