OSU Names Purdue Leader as Dean of Agricultural Sciences
4/27/2009
Sonny
Ramaswamy, an agricultural leader from Purdue University, has been named dean
of the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University. He also
will direct the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station, which is based at OSU.Ramaswamy succeeds long-time OSU dean Thayne Dutson, who retired from the
position in 2008. William Boggess has been serving as interim dean.
For the past three years, Ramaswamy has been associate dean of Purdue’s
College of Agriculture and directed the university’s agricultural research
programs. He brings to OSU extensive experience in different agricultural
settings, including Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, Michigan and
India.
An
entomologist, Ramaswamy has studied the reproductive biology of insects and
plant-insect interactions, conducting applied research on insect pests
affecting wheat, cotton, beans, other row crops and trees.
His breadth of
experience will help Ramaswamy connect OSU’s agricultural programs with
Oregon’s agricultural industry, which last year posted record sales of $4.9
billion. The overall economic activity involving Oregon agriculture is
estimated at $25 billion annually with important sectors including cattle,
dairy, nursery crops, fruits and berries, wheat, grass seed and others.
“Agriculture
is a critical component of the Oregon economy and bringing in a respected
leader like Sonny Ramaswamy will strengthen the relationship between our
College of Agricultural Sciences and its many constituents,” said Sabah
Randhawa, OSU provost and executive vice president. “His work in research and
outreach will be particularly valuable as the state continues to expand its
agricultural activities.”
At Purdue,
Ramaswamy supervised coordination of the university’s research programs in
agriculture, food and natural resources in both on campus and at eight
regional research centers and several research farms. He will find a similar
challenge at Oregon State, where he will direct the Agricultural Experiment
Station as well as serve as dean of the college.
OSU’s
agricultural programs are an $85 million-a-year enterprise that includes:
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15 academic
departments that offer teaching and research to support the agricultural and
natural resource needs of Oregon and beyond;
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An
Agricultural Experiment Station that includes 11 branch stations throughout
the state;
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1,600 students
and numerous programs offering bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees;
“The college
is quite diverse in its programs, faculty, revenue streams and the
constituents it serves,” Randhawa pointed out. “It also has excellence in
areas that the casual observer may not associate with agricultural sciences.
OSU is ranked first nationally in conservation biology, for example, and the
Department of Fisheries and Wildlife within the college is one of the key
reasons for that ranking.”
Randhawa said
the college blends strengths in production agriculture with expertise in
numerous other areas, including biodiversity and environmental quality,
nutrition and food systems, water resource management, biofuels and other
energy sources, and genetics and economically viable technologies, as well as
the social impacts of related activities.
Prior to
joining the Purdue faculty in 2006, Ramaswamy was head of the Department of
Entomology at Kansas State University (1997-2004), where he held the title of
distinguished professor. He also was on the faculty of Mississippi State
University, and was a research associate at Michigan State University. He
began his academic career as a research assistant at the University of
Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore, India, where he earned his bachelor’s and
master’s degrees, and at Rutgers University, where he received his Ph.D. All
of his degrees are in entomology.
Ramaswamy is a
fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the
Entomological Society of America.
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