Dean search
CANR dean finalists to visit this month
3:30 p.m., April 2, 2012--Three finalists in the national search for a new dean of the University of Delaware's College of Agricultural and Natural Resources (CANR) will visit Delaware in April, meeting with groups throughout the state.
Finalists are Edward Ashworth, dean of natural sciences, forestry and agriculture at the University of Maine; Cameron Hackney, special assistant to the provost at West Virginia University; and Mark Rieger, associate dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Florida.
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Given the college's impact throughout the state and the Delmarva peninsula, the candidates will meet with groups in Newark, Dover and Georgetown during their two-day visits. Each candidate will present his vision for the college, followed by Q&A sessions in Newark and Georgetown.
Visits are scheduled April 17-18 for Ashworth, April 23-24 for Rieger and April 25-26 for Hackney.
Current CANR Dean Robin Morgan announced her plans last September to step down at the end of the current academic year, when she will have completed her second five-year term as dean. She will return to the college's faculty.
Edward Ashworth
Ashworth has served as dean of the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture and director of the Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station at the University of Maine since 2006. Previously, he served on the faculty of Purdue University for 19 years, the last seven as professor and head of the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. From 1976-87, he was a plant physiologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. A 1973 graduate of the University of Delaware with a degree with distinction in plant science, he earned his master's degree in field crop science from Cornell University in 1977 and his Ph.D. in botany and plant physiology from the University of Maryland in 1979.
Cameron Hackney
Since July, Hackney has been special assistant to the provost at West Virginia University, after serving as dean of that university's Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design and director of the West Virginia Experiment Station for 11 years. From 1985-2000, he was on the food science and technology faculty at Virginia Tech, and he served on the food science faculty at Louisiana State University from 1980-85. He earned his bachelor's degree in animal science in 1973 and his master's degree in environmental (agricultural) microbiology in 1975, both from West Virginia University, and his Ph.D. in food science, with emphasis on food microbiology and food safety, from North Carolina State University in 1980.
Mark Rieger
Since 2006, Rieger has served as associate dean and professor in the University of Florida's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, with responsibility for graduate programs, distance education, statewide degree completion programs, college honors program and international education, study abroad. He was interim dean of the college for 2010-11. From 1987-2006, he was on the horticulture faculty of the University of Georgia, serving as a full professor his last seven years there. He received his bachelor's degree in horticulture magna cum laude from Pennsylvania State University in 1982, his master's degree in horticulture from the University of Georgia in 1984 and his Ph.D. in horticultural sciences from the University of Florida in 1987.
Additional biographical information about each candidate is available on the official CANR dean search website.
Search Committee
The search committee is chaired by Charles G. Riordan, UD vice provost for graduate and professional education. Committee members are Mohsen Badiey, deputy dean of the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment and professor of marine science and policy; Kelebogile Setiloane, associate professor of behavioral health and nutrition; Blake Meyers, Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor and chair of the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences; Calvin Keeler, professor of animal and food sciences; Joshua Duke, professor of food and resource economics; Judy Hough-Goldstein, professor of entomology and wildlife ecology; James Glancey, associate professor of bioresources engineering; Pam Green, Crawford H. Greenewalt Chair of Plant and Soil Sciences; Susan Garey, Cooperative Extension agent; Carissa Wickens, assistant professor of animal and food sciences; Mark Isaacs, assistant professor of plant and soil sciences; and James C. Borel, DuPont executive vice president and a member of the UD Board of Trustees.
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
UD's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources has approximately 700 undergraduate students, 160 graduate students and 80 faculty members in four academic departments: Animal and Food Sciences, Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, Food and Resource Economics, and Plant and Soil Sciences. Bachelor’s and master’s degrees are offered in all departments, and Ph.D. degrees are offered in Animal and Food Sciences, Entomology and Wildlife Ecology and Plant and Soil Sciences. Current extramural funding for research is approximately $34 million annually, with more than 40 percent coming from federal grants and contracts. Extension programming is focused in agriculture, natural resources, horticulture, community and economic development, family and consumer sciences, food and nutrition and 4-H/youth development.