Finding someone to head up agriculture in a major land-grant university isn’t an easy task. With the announced retirement of Dan Arp from Oregon State University, a search committee had its work cut out for it. The search is over, though, and the university has announced that Alan R. Sams has been named Reub Long Dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences.

Sams brings a healthy background to the role. He served as the executive associate dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University for the past nine years. In that position, Sams was responsible for the college’s academic programs, personnel and budgeting. Before that, he served as dean of the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences at Clemson University from 2007 to 2009.

At Texas A&M, Sams worked with 350 faculty members, 7,800 students and a budget of more than $69 million. It’s one of the largest agriculture colleges in the country.

In commenting on hiring Sams, Edward Feser, OSU provost and executive vice president, noted that Sams understands the “complex mission of a comprehensive agricultural college at a 21st-century land-grant research university.”

In his new role, Sams will oversee a college that has grown to more than 2,600 students, 250 faculty members and $90 million in research expenditures, and that has been ranked among the top agricultural programs in the world. The college offers 13 undergraduate and graduate degree programs; it works with a range of agencies including USDA, National Science Foundation, U.S. Forest Service, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Agency for International Development. U.S. EPA, the U.S. Navy and others.

More about Sams
In a media statement announcing the position, Sams noted his excitement at joining OSU, adding that the university has a “student-centered environment combined with an excellent faculty at the forefront of their fields, and a commitment to serve all the citizens and industry of Oregon.”

Sams has a background in poultry science and received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in that discipline at the University of Florida. He also has a doctorate from Florida in food science and human nutrition.

He started his career as a graduate research assistant at the University of Florida, and worked in private industry as a quality assurance analyst with Gold Kist Poultry Inc. He joined the Texas A&M faculty in 1984 in the Department of Poultry Science and Food Science and was there until he was named dean at Clemson in 2007. He returned to Texas A&M as executive associate dean.

In his work at Texas, Sams helped the college expand research partnerships and international programs, increase enrollment by 25% and increase its budget by 30%.

Sams will start in his new role Oct. 31. In the interim, Bill Bogess, executive associate dean of OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences, will serve as interim dean. He takes that role Sept. 1 following Arp’s retirement.

Source: Oregon State University