New Leader Picked for Top Ag Role at University of Florida
May 5, 2020 The University of Florida has found the next leader for its Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS). The school named J. Scott Angle, Director of USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), to lead UF/IFAS into the next decade. He is expected to take over the role as Vice President for agriculture and natural resources on July 13. The announcement comes after a 10-month national search.
Angle will oversee UF’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) with more than 6,000 students, the Florida Cooperative Extension Service, and the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station’s network of research centers. He will be succeeding Jack Payne, who is retiring after 10 years in that position.
“Dr. Angle is a nationally recognized leader in agricultural science and administration. His passion for science, natural resources and service to the community will advance our work toward feeding a growing world population while reducing our use of resources needed to do it,” says UF President Kent Fuchs. “During this critical time in Florida agriculture, he is the proven leader we need to adapt our traditional land-grant mission of teaching, research, and outreach to a 21st century context, contributing significantly to UF’s drive to be a Top 5 university.”
J. Scott Angle
Angle spent more than 35 years in agricultural science and administration, including 25 years as a professor of soil science and administrator (Director of the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station and University of Maryland Cooperative Extension). His early work focused on the study of losses of nutrients from agro-ecosystems, and their impact on the Chesapeake Bay. He also studied the impact of heavy metals on the food chain with the goal of protecting our food supply from these harmful elements.
From 2005 to 2015, Angle served as Dean and Director of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia. He subsequently served as President and CEO of the International Fertilizer Development Center, an international public organization dedicated to helping the poorest farmers of the world produce more food.
“My experience at NIFA gave me the opportunity to see university agriculture operations across the nation, and UF/IFAS is simply one of, if not the, best. Agriculture is changing faster than I have ever witnessed in my career,” Angle says. “Many challenges lie ahead, not the least of which is COVID-19, and its long-term implications for agriculture. UF/IFAS, however, is up to the challenge and I am honored to be at the helm during such an important time for agriculture.”
There are big shoes for Angle to fill in his new role. During Payne’s tenure, CALS enrollment rose to record levels and faculty achieved a single-year record for grants and contracts. UF/IFAS built a honey bee lab, a professional development center, a biological station in Cedar Key, a teaching forest learning center, and a beef teaching unit headquarters among other advancements.