Chairperson of Plant and Soil Sciences, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources

The University of Delaware seeks a Chairperson for the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences. This full-time faculty position is located in Newark, DE, overseeing a department with around 30 faculty and over 150 students. The role involves leadership in research, teaching, and extension, focusing on sustainable food production and natural resource management. The department is part of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration and community engagement.
University of Delaware

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Job No: 501485

Work Type: Faculty

Location: Newark

Categories: Plant & Soil Sciences, Full Time

JOB TITLE: Chairperson, Plant and Soil Sciences

GENERAL INFORMATION: The Department of Plant and Soil
Sciences (PLSC) (https://www.udel.edu/academics/colleges/canr/departments/plant-and-soil-sciences/)
is a thriving academic unit consisting of approximately 30 faculty,
over 100 undergraduate students, and over 50 graduate students. The
Department includes undergraduate programs in Plant Sciences,
Sustainable Food Systems, and Landscape Architecture. Graduate
programs include Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Plant and Soil Sciences.
In addition, several faculty advise students in interdisciplinary
graduate programs that are housed in the Graduate College,
including Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Microbiology, Water Science and
Policy, and Data Science. The Department is known for active and
impactful research, teaching, and extension at the national and
international levels. The PLSC department focuses on solving the
most pressing global problems, through means such as sustainable
food production, natural resource management and restoration, and
sustainable landscape architectural practice, to attract a diverse
student body. Together with lab staff and students, PLSC faculty
have demonstrated leadership in plant physiology, genetics and
microbial interactions, environmental soil science, and
biogeochemistry. The Department has a dedicated cohort of faculty
leading the professional bachelor’s in landscape architecture and
PLSC faculty are leaders in extension activities across the region,
completing the third rung of a land-grant university. In
contributions to this, our faculty lead several multi-state
research and extension working groups and large collaborative
networks across the US.

PLSC is part of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
(CANR), a dynamic, innovative academic unit with more than 1,100
undergraduate and graduate students and approximately 90 faculty,
who are nationally and internationally recognized leaders across
multiple disciplines. In addition to PLSC, the College also
includes the departments of Animal and Food Sciences, Applied
Economics and Statistics, and Entomology and Wildlife Ecology. As
the Land Grant arm of the university, CANR combines research,
teaching, extension, and community engagement to better serve the
state, region, and the world. Located on a 350 acre working farm on
the University’s south Newark campus, the college offers a unique
hands-on learning environment for students and researchers.

With approximately $25 million in annual research expenditures,
CANR currently houses several large, interdisciplinary grants with
significant funding from the USDA and NSF. The college boasts
strong research teams in the areas of soil and environmental
biogeochemistry, plant molecular biology, food microbiology and
safety, agroecosystem and environmental management, applied
statistics and data analytics, animal nutrition, physiology and
health, and climate change and adaptation. Our Extension program is
highly impactful, creating programs and scholarly outputs accessed
by the entire Mid-Atlantic region.

PLSC faculty members are located in multiple new research
facilities including Worrilow Hall and the University’s Science,
Technology, and Advanced Research (STAR) building on south campus
and the modern Harker Integrated Science and Education Laboratory
(ISE Lab) building on the central campus. PLSC faculty members
fulfill extension, research, and education missions at the Carvel
Research and Education Center in Georgetown, DE (https://www.udel.edu/canr/carvel/).
In addition, CANR faculty, staff, and students have access to
state-of-the-art core facilities including the Advanced Materials
Characterization Laboratory (AMCL) on main campus, the
bioinformatics and sequencing center on the STAR campus, and the
Soil Testing Laboratory and Fischer greenhouses on the South
Campus. PLSC faculty are both Tenure Track (TT) and Continuing
Track (CT), with CT faculty often holding higher teaching, service,
or extension appointments than TT faculty. Both CT and TT faculty
follow a similar path to promotion, earn sabbaticals, have
opportunities to pursue research, participate in shared governance,
and hold academic leadership positions.

POSITION DESCRIPTION: The college seeks a scholar with
proven leadership skills to be the next Chair of the Department of
Plant and Soil Sciences, uniting the department’s varied academic
pursuits. This position provides an exceptional opportunity to lead
a vital and productive department with strong research,
instructional, and Extension expertise at a research-focused,
land-grant university. The Chairperson will facilitate programming
in research, teaching, and extension that results in impactful
solutions related to grand challenges in plant and soil sciences
and the stewardship and design of the built and living environment.
The Chairperson’s roles will include leadership, budget management,
fundraising, personnel management, and integration of the different
disciplines within the Department. The Chairperson will represent
the Department and its programs across the University and to
external stakeholders, and participate actively in the
administration of the College along with the dean, associate deans,
and other chairs and unit leaders. The candidate should have strong
communication skills, excellent interpersonal skills, understand
the land grant mission, be team-oriented, and have a vision of the
future of plant and soil sciences and landscape architecture in
higher education.

Candidates must have a Ph.D. in plant science, soil science,
landscape architecture, or another discipline related to
scholarship at the intersection of the natural and built
environment and have significant leadership experience. A qualified
applicant will have credentials commensurate with those of a
tenured Full Professor, including a record of significant
contributions to teaching, research and/or Extension along with
excellent administrative and interpersonal skills. Experience with
the accreditation requirements of professional degree programs,
such as a BLA, is desirable but not required. Candidates with these
attributes from non-academic backgrounds are encouraged to
apply.

POSITION DETAILS: The position will be a 9-month
academic-year appointment with 1 month of summer salary while
serving as chairperson. The expected workload is 85% administration
with the remaining 15% workload to contribute meaningfully to the
research, teaching, and/or Extension programs in the department.
The initial department chair appointment is for 5 years, with 5
year reappointments contingent upon departmental reviews.

SALARY AND BENEFITS: Compensation packages are
competitive and commensurate with experience and
qualifications.

TO APPLY: Review of applications will begin on January 6,
2025, and will continue until the position is filled. Applicants
must upload a letter of application, including a statement
describing their leadership philosophy, why they would be a good
fit for this position, and their approach to diversity, equity, and
inclusion. Applicants should also provide contact information for
three references and a curriculum vitae as a single pdf document
through the online application system. Candidate’s applications
will not be shared beyond the search committee until they are
selected to move beyond the initial screening phase. Applicants
will be notified before references are contacted. Contact Dr. Tanya
Gressley, Search Committee Chair, at gressley@udel.edu for more
information.

Notice of Non-Discrimination, Equal Opportunity and Affirmative
Action

The University of Delaware does not discriminate against any person
on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, gender identity
or expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, marital
status, disability, religion, age, veteran status or any other
characteristic protected by applicable law in its employment,
educational programs and activities, admissions policies, and
scholarship and loan programs as required by Title IX of the
Educational Amendments of 1972, the Americans with Disabilities Act
of 1990, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title VII
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and other applicable statutes and
University policies. The University of Delaware also prohibits
unlawful harassment including sexual harassment and sexual
violence.

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