APG faculty search finalists

The Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics has announced the finalists for two recent faculty searches: Forage Extension Agronomist and Agroecology/Agroinformatics. 

Each of the finalists will participate in a campus visit that will include a public forum and interviews with various constituencies and stakeholders of the Department and College. 

You can review each candidate’s CV by clicking on their name in the list below.

Public forums

All faculty, staff, students, alumni, and other internal and external stakeholders are invited to attend the candidates’ research seminars, which will be held on campus and on Zoom. The seminars will be live streamed and recorded and may be viewed online. Information on how to view the recordings will be emailed to the department after each presentation.

Forage Extension Agronomist evaluation

This page will be updated as more information becomes available for each candidate visit.

Forage Extension Agronomist

Candidates were given the following instructions to prepare for their seminars:

Research Seminar
As part of your campus visit, please prepare a one-hour research seminar consisting of a 40–45 minute presentation on your past research accomplishments and future plans, followed by 15–20 minutes of audience questions and discussion. This seminar will be open to the public, hosted as a Zoom webinar, and broadly advertised across multiple University of Minnesota departments and interdepartmental centers. We encourage you to highlight your experience in applied forage production and to clearly articulate your research vision, particularly as it aligns with the goals and priorities of this position.

Extension Seminar
In addition, we ask that you deliver a one-hour Extension-focused seminar, with 40–45 minutes for your presentation and 15–20 minutes for questions and discussion. This session will also be available as a Zoom webinar. Please present in a style appropriate for a regional Extension event geared toward farmers. While the primary audience will be Minnesota forage producers, participants may also include crop consultants and other agricultural professionals.

We ask that you provide a thorough discussion of your vision for forage production in Central Minnesota. Specifically, please prepare a full set of recommendations for deploying alfalfa/grass mixtures to support dairy and beef cattle feeding. Your presentation should address strategies to overcome major constraints in Minnesota, as well as key factors in selecting and managing alfalfa/grass stands for harvested forage and/or intensively managed pastures. We ask that you include recommendations to help producers improve both short- and long-term enterprise returns while reducing risk. Please also discuss management practices that can increase forage yield and quality, support stand resiliency, and fit within common livestock operations in Central Minnesota.

Forage Extension Agronomist evaluation

After meeting and attending seminars with the candidates, please fill out the evaluation form for each candidate.

Hannah Rusch:  September 22-23

Jessica Prigge:  October 20-21

Monday, October 20

Tuesday, October 21

Beatriz Bizzuti Cremostim: October 29-30

Wednesday, October 29

Thursday, October 30

Agroecology/Agroinformatics

Candidates were given the following instructions to prepare for their seminars:
Please prepare a 1-hour research seminar that will include a 40–45 minute presentation focused on your past research accomplishments and your future research plans. The remaining 15–20 minutes will be dedicated to audience questions and discussion. We encourage you to highlight your experience and contributions in both agroecology and agroinformatics, and to clearly articulate your research vision, particularly as it aligns with the goals and priorities of this position.

We also ask you to deliver a 1-hour teaching demonstration. You may use up to 10 minutes at the beginning to present your teaching philosophy, followed by up to 40 minutes of instructional content that showcases your classroom teaching approach. We encourage you to incorporate experiential learning strategies into your lesson to reflect your teaching style and engage the audience. Please reserve the final 10 minutes for questions and discussion with attendees.
 

Agroecology/Agroinformatics evaluation

After meeting and attending seminars with the candidate(s), please fill out the evaluation form for each candidate.

Jeff Liebert:  October 1-2

Wednesday, October 1

Thursday, October 2

Kelsey Brewer: October 9-10

Thursday, October 9

Friday, October 10

Bryan Runck:  October 23-24

 Thursday, October 23

Friday, October 24

Forage Extension Agronomist Search Committee 

Seth Naeve (chair), APG faculty (Extension, soybean agronomist)

Samantha Wells, APG faculty (cropping systems agronomist)

Dean Malvick, Plant Pathology faculty (Extension, soybean and corn pathologist)

Beth Nelson, Midwest Forage Association

Dave Nicolai, Extension educator

Jason Hickman, graduate student (Jungers lab) (cropping systems)

Elisabeth Vose, Molly Kelly, and Lori Loberg, search support

Agroecology/Landscape Agroinformatics Search Committee

Jake Jungers (chair), APG faculty (cropping systems, agroecology)

Nick Jordan, APG faculty (agroecology)

Axel Garcia y Garcia, APG faculty (agriculture modeling, cropping systems)

Melissa Wilson, Soils, Water and Climate faculty (nutrient management and water quality)

Stephen Gregg, graduate student (Garcia y Garcia lab) (cropping systems)

Elisabeth Vose, Molly Kelly, and Lori Loberg, search support