By Larry B. Dendy
University of Georgia

The search for a new dean of the University of Georgia College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences has been narrowed to
three finalists. The three will visit the campus this month to
meet with faculty, staff and students in the college.

A search committee selected the finalists from candidates
identified in a national search. They are:

• Joseph C. Joyce, executive
  associate vice president for agriculture and natural resources in
  the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University
  of Florida.
• D.C. Coston, associate
  director of the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station and a
  professor of horticulture at Oklahoma State University.
• Sonny Ramaswamy, head of the
  entomology department and University Distinguished Professor at
  Kansas State University.

The new dean will succeed Gale A. Buchanan, who stepped down as
dean Dec. 31 and will retire from the university April 30. Josef
M. Broder is serving as interim dean until a permanent dean can
begin work.

Background

Joyce has been with IFAS in the University of Florida since 1983.
An expert in aquatic plant management and control, he is a past
president of the International Aquatic Plant Management Society.
He is also a retired brigadier general in the U.S. Army Reserve.

Coston is interim associate director of the Oklahoma Cooperative
Extension Service. Before joining Oklahoma State in 1995, he was
at Clemson University as associate dean and associate director of
the South Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station. He’s an
authority on natural resources systems and management.

Ramaswamy is an expert on insect pheromones and reproductive
biology. Before becoming head of the KSU entomology department in
1977, he was a professor at Mississippi State University. He
helped create a butterfly conservatory and insect zoo at KSU and
has written more than 100 journal articles and book chapters.

Visits

Joyce will visit UGA Feb. 16-19. He will present an open seminar
Feb. 17 at 2 p.m. in room 307 of Conner Hall. It will be
broadcast by satellite to faculty at CAES units in Tifton,
Griffin, Statesboro and Fort Valley.

Coston will be on campus Feb. 20-22 and will present an open
seminar Feb. 21 at 1:30 p.m. Ramaswamy will visit Feb. 23-25,
with an open seminar on Feb. 24 at 2:15 p.m. These two seminar
sites have not yet been set. Both, though, will be broadcast by
satellite to other locations.

George Benson, dean of UGA’s Terry College of Business, chairs
the search committee.

(Larry Dendy is the assistant to the associate vice president
for public affairs of the University of Georgia.)