Former ARS national program leader to head UA department
April 16, 2009Contact Information:
Dr. A. Rick Bennett, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Arkansas
479-575-2445, rbennett@uark.edu
Howell Medders, Division of Agriculture Communications
479-575-5647, hmedders@uark.edu
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A. Rick Bennett, formerly a national program leader in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has joined the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Arkansas as a professor and department head.
The department is a unit of the University of Arkansas System’s Division of Agriculture and Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences on the Fayetteville campus. Bennett started March 30 in the position held by Sung Lim for 17 years until he retired in August 2008.
Bennett was national program leader for plant health in the Agricultural Research Service of the USDA. He was based at Beltsville, Md., and led a national ARS plant health program of more than 65 research projects and 147 scientists.
Previous assignments during his 21 years with USDA-ARS included international program leader, director of the office of international programs, international program coordinator, plant health advisor for USAID, and research associate for the Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research Unit.
The move to an academic position “is an opportunity to do something I’ve always wanted to do,” Bennett said. “It gives me great satisfaction mentoring young faculty, students and researchers. Being in an academic department gives me the opportunity to help others in teaching, research or extension efforts.”
“We’re in a period for some major scientific breakthroughs,” Bennett said. “The department is positioned well thanks to Dr. Lim and we need to be ready to take advantage of opportunities. We have a great blend of young and senior faculty with new skill sets in applied and basic sciences.
“My goal is to build a diverse, leading-edge program in interdisciplinary fields of plant pathology, plant ecology, plant disease resistance, biological and cultural strategies for sustainable disease management, cellular/molecular pathology, and pathogen-vector relationships.”
Bennett grew up on a small farm in western Maryland. He has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, a master’s degree in forest pathology from Colorado State University, and a doctorate in plant pathology from West Virginia University.