Three Finalists for WSU Dean Post Are Slated to Visit Campus

PULLMAN, Wash. — Three finalists have been selected for further interviews and to meet with faculty and staff as part of the search for a new dean of the College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences at Washington State University.

Open-session meetings with the candidates for WSU faculty, students and staff will be announced through WSU Announcements as soon as schedules are finalized.

The three candidates are Daniel J. Bernardo, currently a professor and department head of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University; Ralph P. Cavalieri, currently serving as associate dean of the WSU College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences and as director of WSU’s Agricultural Research Center; and James E. Kinder, currently chair of the Department of Animal Sciences at Ohio State University.

Bernardo received a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Davis in 1980 and a doctorate from WSU in 1985. He joined Oklahoma State University as an assistant professor and was promoted to full professor in 1993. He accepted his current post at Kansas State University in May 1995.

He specializes in production economics, farm management and natural resources.  As a department head, he has administrative responsibility for the Department of Agricultural Economics’ teaching, research and extension programs. Since his arrival at KSU, Bernardo has directed several new initiatives including facility renovation and the Master in Agribusiness distance learning program. His research on irrigation management, rangeland economics and water quality policy has been published in scholarly journals across a variety of disciplines.

Cavalieri has been a member of the WSU faculty since 1985. He served as chair of the Department of Biological Systems Engineering from 1991-2000.

His research has focused on food and postharvest engineering topics and includes work dealing with new sensors and controls for the tree fruit and processed vegetable industries. Cavalieri is the editor of the international research journal, “Postharvest Biology and Technology.” He received a doctorate in chemical engineering from WSU in 1985. His bachelor’s degree, in 1975, is from the University of Idaho.

Kinder received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri in 1970, a master’s degree from the University of Nebraska in 1972 and a doctorate from WSU in 1975.

He joined Ohio State University as an assistant professor in the Department of Animal Science in 1975 and moved to the University of Nebraska in 1979 in the Department of Animal Science, where he was promoted to professor in 1987. Kinder became associate director of the Center for Biotechnology in 1990.  He took a sabbatical leave in Australia from June 1992 to June 1993 and continues to have strong collaborations with colleagues in that country. He returned to the University of Nebraska in 1993, where he continued to serve as associate director of the Center for Biotechnology and as a professor of animal sciences until 1999.  He returned to OSU in 1999 and has served in his current position there since then.

His research emphasis has been in the area of neuroendocrine regulation of puberty, the estrous cycle, ovarian follicular development and corpora lutea function in cattle. He has extensive teaching experience in the area of endocrinology and reproductive physiology. Kinder has received several awards of excellence for both his teaching and research endeavors.

James J. Zuiches, the former dean of the WSU College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences, stepped down from the deanship in August 2003. R. James Cook has served as interim dean since that time. The search committee was appointed in May 2004 with Warwick Bayly, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, serving as its chair.

“The search committee has been acting on behalf of the students, faculty and staff to identify candidates to come to campus and the state for interviews,” said Bayly.

“This step is critical and perhaps the most important part of the process,” he said. “We will have many opportunities for them to interact with the community at large across the state during their three-day visits.  I strongly urge everyone to attend the interviews and provide feedback to the provost.”

Bayly said the search committee has worked very hard reviewing candidates and conducting telephone interviews over the past months and added that he wanted to extend a thank you to all the members.