UGA launches national search for agriculture dean

By Sam Fahmy for CAES News

Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost S. Jack Hu has appointed a 24-member committee to begin a national search for candidates for the position of dean and director of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The committee is co-chaired by Jennifer Frum, vice president for Public Service and Outreach, and Dale Greene, dean of the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. It includes faculty, staff and student representation, as well as representatives from industry and state government. In addition, the university will retain an external search firm to help identify candidates.

Faculty, staff, students or community members who wish to nominate candidates for consideration are invited to contact Michael Luthi, director of the UGA Search Group, at luthi@uga.edu.

The search committee members are:

·         Jennifer Frum, vice president for Public Service and Outreach (co-chair)

·         Dale Greene, dean of the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources (co-chair)

·         James C. Anderson II, assistant professor in the department of agricultural leadership, education and communication

·         Gary Black, Commissioner of Agriculture, State of Georgia

·         Timothy Brenneman, professor of plant pathology on the UGA Tifton campus

·         Bill Brim, chief executive officer and partner, Lewis Taylor Farms

·         Kylie Bruce, an undergraduate student majoring in poultry science, a member of the Avian Ambassador Program and the CAES Transfer Team

·         Robert E. Burton, chief executive officer, burton + BURTON and a member of the Georgia 4-H Foundation board

·         Miguel Cabrera, Georgia Power Professor in Environmental Remediation and Soil Chemistry in the department of crop and soil sciences

·         Toby Carr, vice president for government relations

·         Kylee Jo Duberstein, associate professor in the department of animal and dairy science

·         Cesar Escalante, professor in the department of agricultural and applied economics

·         Mary Formo, academic advisor in the CAES Office of Academic Affairs

·         Kent Fountain, President, Southeastern Gin and Peanut

·         Mike Giles, president of the Georgia Poultry Federation and a member of the Georgia 4-H Foundation board

·         Francisco Diez-Gonzalez, professor in the department of food science and technology and director of the Center for Food Safety on the UGA Griffin campus

·         Zenglu Li, Georgia Seed Development Professor in Soybean Breeding and Genetics in the department of crop and soil sciences and a faculty member in the Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics

·         Mark McCann, assistant dean for extension

·         Lisa Nolan, Georgia Athletics Association Distinguished Professor and dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine

·         Steven Stice, D.W. Brooks Professor and GRA Eminent Scholar in the department of animal and dairy science and director of the Regenerative Bioscience Center

·         Michael R. Strand, H.M. Pulliam Chair in the department of entomology

·         Esther van der Knaap, professor in the department of horticulture and a faculty member in the Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, as well as the Center for Applied Genetic Technologies

·         Ron Walcott, professor in the department of plant pathology and interim dean of the Graduate School

·         Jeanna L. Wilson, professor in the department of poultry science

Samuel Pardue, who has led the college since 2016, recently announced that he will be stepping down as dean on June 30.

Sam Fahmy is director of public relations for the University of Georgia's Office of the Senior Vice-president for Academic Affairs and Provost.