Don Hopkins Named Interim Director Of UF/IFAS Mid-Florida Research And Education Center In Apopka

By:
Chuck Woods (352) 392-1773 x 281

Source(s):
Mike Martin mvm@ifas.ufl.edu, 352-392-1971
Don Hopkins DLHopkins@ifas.ufl.edu, 407-884-2034 ext. 138
Jeff Mullahey wfgator@ufl.edu 850-983-5774 ext. 101

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APOPKA, FLA.—Don Hopkins, a professor of plant pathology at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, has been named interim director of the UF/IFAS Mid-Florida Research and Education Center in Apopka.

Hopkins succeeds Donn Shilling, a professor of agronomy who served as center director since 2000 and recently became chairman of the agronomy department at the University of Georgia. Hopkins assumed the new position Jan. 1, 2004.

In announcing the administrative change, Mike Martin, UF vice president for agriculture and natural resources, said Hopkins has been on the faculty at the center since 1969 and will serve as director for a period of 18 months.

“During the coming months, we will assess the national market for candidates who could serve as director of the center,” Martin said. “We will launch a national search when there is evidence that such a search will succeed.”

Martin also announced that Jeff Mullahey, director of the UF/IFAS West Florida Research and Education Center in Milton and Jay, will work with the faculty and staff at the Mid-Florida center and oversee the center’s teaching program at the Hillsborough Community College campus in Plant City.

Hopkins, who has conducted extensive research on biological control of plant diseases, bacterial fruit blotch of watermelon and Pierce’s disease on grapes, earned his bachelor’s degree in agriculture and chemistry at Western Kentucky University. He completed his doctoral degree in plant pathology at the University of Kentucky.

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Posted: January 14, 2004


Category: UF/IFAS



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