Skip to main content
Link to news home page
News

Three finalists named in CALS dean search

August 1, 2005 By Brian Mattmiller

Three finalists for dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences have been forwarded to Chancellor John D. Wiley today (Aug. 1) for his consideration.

Finalists are:

  • Douglas D. Buhler, the acting associate director of the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station and acting associate dean for research, the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing.
  • Beverly R. Durgan, associate dean for research and outreach, College of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences at the University of Minnesota (UM) in the Twin Cities.
  • Molly Jahn, professor of plant breeding and genetics and plant biology, Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

Denise Ney, a UW–Madison professor of nutritional sciences, chaired the 18-member search committee, which was comprised of faculty, staff, students and representatives of the agricultural community. The new dean will succeed Elton Aberle, who will retire in September 2005 after seven years of leading the college.

Details on the candidates:

Buhler has been professor and department chair of MSU’s department of crop and soil sciences since 2000. From 1989 – 2000, Buhler was a research agronomist with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Research Service in both St. Paul and Ames, Iowa. Buhler was an assistant professor of agronomy at UW–Madison from 1984-89.

Buhler’s work in agronomy has generated more than 300 research and outreach publications, three books and more than $3.4 million in extramural funding. He is an expert on integrated weed management. From 2003 until earlier this year, Buhler also served as MSU Extension’s state leader for agriculture, a position aimed at enhancing interactions between the university and the Michigan agricultural community.

Buhler received his bachelor’s degree in agriculture from UW-Platteville in 1979; and his master’s (1982) and doctoral (1984) degrees in agronomy from the University of Nebraska.

Durgan has been on the UM agronomy faculty since 1985 and became a full professor in 1997. She has served in a variety of administrative roles in the agriculture college during that time, including assistant dean for extension in 1999 and interim associate dean for research in 1998-99. She has been an associate dean for research and outreach and chief financial officer since 2000.

Durgan has won a variety of awards for research and teaching, including the 1997 Dean’s and Director’s Award for Outstanding State Extension Educator and the 1996 Distinguished Education Award from the North Central Weed Science Society. She has managed more than $2.5 million in research grants as a faculty member and administrator.

Durgan received her bachelor’s degree in 1981 from Montana State University, and her master’s and doctoral degrees in agronomy in 1983 and 1985 from North Dakota State University in Fargo.

Jahn has been a full professor of plant breeding and genetics since 2003 and has been on the faculty at Cornell since 1991. She has also done research and postdoctorate work at the Boyce Thompson Institute in Ithaca and the University of California-Berkeley before joining Cornell.

Jahn is an expert on gene discovery and genetic mapping of agricultural plants and currently manages more than $6 million in federal and industry research projects. She has two patents pending for disease resistance advances for crops. Jahn serves on the editorial board of the influential journal Plant Cell and has won a number of awards for developing crop varieties and teaching excellence. She has done extensive consulting in the private sector and in international agriculture.

Jahn earned her bachelor’s degree in 1980 at Swarthmore College, her master’s in 1983 in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her doctorate in 1988 in plant breeding from Cornell.

The dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences provides leadership to 270 faculty and directs a budget of more than $150 million. On an annual basis, CALS is awarded more than $100 million in research funds including federal grants, non-federal grants and gifts. In addition to its research and instructional roles, CALS also has a strong extension and outreach mission, with 12 agricultural research stations across the state.