Well-known agriculture academic Jayson Lusk has been named the vice president and dean of the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University (OSU).
Lusk is expected to begin working in his new position in the fall. With the appointment, he will be returning to the university for which he worked from 2013 to 2017 as a Regents Professor and Willard Sparks Endowed Chair for the OSU Department of Agriculture Economics.
Following that stint at OSU, Lusk went on to spend the next six years as Purdue University Distinguished Professor and head of the university’s Department of Agricultural Economics.
“It has been an honor and privilege to serve as the head of the Agriculture Economics Department at Purdue University, and I will miss my friends and colleagues at West Lafayette. Now it’s time for a new challenge,” Lusk wrote in a blog post.
“There are many exciting things happening at Oklahoma State University, including the near completion of the New Frontiers campaign and building, a new university strategic plan that has clear emphasis on agriculture and the land grant mission, and the opportunity to work with the faculty and staff to identify some key strategic opportunities to raise the impact of the division.”
During Lusk’s career, he has educated people on agriculture well beyond the Purdue and OSU campuses. He has spoken at events including the International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE), Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit, Delmarva Poultry Industry (now Delmarva Chicken Association) National Meeting on Poultry Health, Processing and Live Production and National Turkey Federation Convention, as well as being a guest on WATTPoultry Chat. He has also testified before the U.S. Senate Committee for Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.
OSU has not yet announced Lusk’s appointment. However, according to Oklahoma Farm Report, it was announced last week by OSU President Kayse Shrum and Provost Jeanette Mendez at the Board of Regents meeting that Lusk’s hiring had received committee approval, with final approval from the board expected this week.
Lusk earned a B.S. in Food Technology from Texas Tech University and a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from Kansas State University.
Current OSU agriculture dean Tom Coon is retiring this summer.
