UF/IFAS leadership has named Jay Ferrell as the new chair of UF’s department of agronomy. Ferrell’s appointment, effective Nov. 18, comes nearly nine months after he began serving as the interim chair of the department.
“Having made my career in this department, it is a real honor to be given the opportunity to lead this group that has been so supportive of me over the years,” Ferrell said.
During a national search, Ferrell quickly emerged as a leading candidate, said Rob Gilbert, UF/IFAS dean for research and executive director for academic affairs.
“He impressed us all during the interview process with his commitment to supporting people and his systems thinking,” Gilbert said.
Ferrell first joined the agronomy department in 2004 as an assistant professor and became the department’s associate chair in 2014. In 2017, he transitioned to a new role as director of the UF/IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants (CAIP) in Gainesville. There, he leads a multidisciplinary group of faculty and staff developing and disseminating strategies for addressing the impact of invasive plants.
Gilbert praised Ferrell for demonstrating leadership at CAIP by elevating early-career faculty members and for building partnerships, particularly with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; one of Ferrell’s faculty members is a Corps scientist with a courtesy appointment at the center.
“That collaborative ethos and his record of successful hiring and mentoring of faculty will help him lift a high-performing department to even greater impact,” Gilbert said.
In 2019, Ferrell became director of the Pesticide Information Office (PIO). Located in the same facility as CAIP, PIO facilitates training and testing for pesticide license certification. Ferrell will continue to lead CAIP but will bring in an associate director for support.
Reflecting on his service as agronomy department interim chair, Ferrell thanked his fellow IFAS department chairs for welcoming and supporting him. And he shared a vision for the department’s future.
“The agronomy department is a collection of some of the most talented and hardworking people anywhere in the country,” he said. “They have a people-first mentality, whether it is with teaching, research or Extension, and my primary goal is to continue to foster this sense of service and community.”
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ABOUT UF/IFAS
The mission of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) is to develop knowledge relevant to agricultural, human and natural resources and to make that knowledge available to sustain and enhance the quality of human life. With more than a dozen research facilities, 67 county Extension offices, and award-winning students and faculty in the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UF/IFAS brings science-based solutions to the state’s agricultural and natural resources industries, and all Florida residents.
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