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Klemme named CALS extension dean

October 29, 1999 By Robert Cooney

Richard Klemme, professor of agricultural and applied economics and director of the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, has been named associate dean for agriculture and natural resources extension, a joint position between the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and Cooperative Extension, UW-Extension.

The new position, created in 1997, combines two former positions: the CALS associate dean for extension and outreach, and the Cooperative Extension program leader for agriculture-agribusiness. Merging the two positions was intended to improve communication and interaction between campus specialists and county-based extension agents.

In his new role, Klemme will be responsible for extension programming in agriculture and natural resources statewide and will provide personnel and budget support for CALS specialists. The new associate dean position is funded equally by CALS and Cooperative Extension and answers to deans of both units.

Klemme brings strong academic and leadership skills to the associate dean position. He obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. in agricultural economics from Purdue and a B.S. in economics and mathematics from Illinois State University. He has been at UW–Madison since finishing his doctorate in 1980, starting as a farm management specialist in the Department of Agricultural Economics. Klemme was named founding director of the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems in 1989, a position he still holds. In 1996, he resumed a partial extension-instruction position in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics.

Klemme will begin his new duties Jan. 1, 2000. He will replace agricultural economist Ed Jesse, who has served in an acting capacity since July 1997. Jesse was the CALS associate dean for extension and outreach from October 1992 to June 1997 before assuming the combined CALS-Extension position on an interim basis. He will return to the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics as a professor and extension agricultural marketing and policy specialist.