A newly created position within CFAES will initially oversee facility and capital planning and academic personnel.
Ron Hendrick, director of the School of Environment and Natural Resources (SENR), began his new role as senior associate dean June 1.
"The College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences is one of the most complex operations within Ohio State, and Ron Hendrick brings proven skills in strategic and operational leadership to help us achieve our potential," said CFAES Dean Bruce McPheron.
"Our focus on student success and our internationally recognized research portfolio will benefit from Ron’s new role."—CFAES Dean Bruce McPheron
"Our focus on student success -- both in resident instruction and in outreach education through OSU Extension -- and our internationally recognized research portfolio will benefit from Ron's new role. He will ensure that we maximize the impact of our people, our infrastructure and our financial resources in achieving our mission," McPheron said.
Hendrick said he will take a comprehensive look at the college's aging infrastructure in light of current and future needs.
"We'll do this with an eye toward how we can more fully integrate and be physically connected with each other and the rest of the university," he said, considering the role that facilities will play in the university's Discovery Themes -- Energy and Environment, Food Production and Security, and Health and Wellness.
Jeff Sharp named SENR interim director
Jeff Sharp, a professor in SENR, will serve as interim director of the school, also starting June 1. His teaching and research areas include rural sociology, the sociology of agriculture and food systems, the rural-urban interface, natural resource sociology, and local foods.
He joined Ohio State in 1998 as an assistant professor in the Department of Human and Community Resource Development, became professor in SENR in 2012, and has served as SENR's Extension Administrative team leader from 2011 to the present.
He holds a Ph.D. in sociology, an M.S. in rural sociology, and a B.A. with distinction in political science, all from Iowa State University. He spent the junior year of his undergraduate studies in the Department of English at the University College of Swansea, U.K.
-- Martha Filipic, Communications and Technology