Food Systems Leadership Institute Announces New Fellows

Shiretta Ownbey, College of Human Environmental Sciences Professor and Associate Dean of Academic Programs and Services is among 23 leaders selected to Fellows of the Food Systems Leadership Institute.

Also selected from OSU is Jonathan Edelson,Professor and Department Head, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology. The newly announced cohort includes leaders from 20 states representing 19 universities and two food and nutrition companies. All have been selected with the support of their organization’s senior executives.

The new FSLI Fellows are beginning a 2-year program that is designed for experienced leaders who are engaged in the sometimes diverse segments of the food system. “The notion of a food system is a break from an overly-simplified model of agriculture production processing-distribution,” says Dr. Ken Swartzel, the program’s director. “The food system includes a wide array of stakeholders, from producers to consumers, and taking a ‘systems’ approach acknowledges the need to broaden our thinking on the relationships of food and food production to health and nutrition, environmental quality, natural resources, rural communities, globalization, and a host of emerging issues surrounding these and other topics.”

FSLI Fellows participate in a rigorous leadership development experience that
focuses on personal leadership skills, leadership for organizational change, and
broadening food systems perspectives.

The FSLI was formed through the partnership of the National Association of State
Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC) and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. North Carolina State University is responsible for operating the FSLI, along with partners at The Ohio State University and University of Vermont. Each of these three universities will host intensive residential sessions for the Fellows.

 Food Systems Leadership Institute 2007 Fellows:
Jo Britt-Rankin, Associate Dean/Program Director, University of Missouri, Human
Environmental Sciences Extension
Tim Cross, Associate Dean, UT Extension, University of Tennessee, University of
Tennessee Extension
Faye Dong, Professor and Department Head, University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, College of
Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
Jonathan Edelson, Professor and Department Head, Oklahoma State University,
Division of Agriculture Sciences & Natural Resources, Department of Entomology
and Plant Pathology
Richard Griffin, Department Head and Acting Associate Dean for Academics,
Prairie View A & M University, Department of Agriculture, Nutrition and Human
Ecology Cooperative Agricultural Research Center, Plant & Environmental Systems
Research Program
Parker Hall, Group Manager, Campbell USA R & D, Campbell Soup Company
Steve Hanson, Department Chairperson and Professor, Michigan State University,
Department of Agricultural Economics
Ching Yuan Hu, Associate Dean and Associate Director for Research, University of
Hawaii, Manoa College of Tropical Agriculture & Human Resources
Nancy Irlbeck, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Colorado State University,
College of Agricultural Sciences
Pete Jacoby, Associate Dean for Outreach, Washington State University,
Washington State University Extension
Jane Kolodinsky, Professor, Chair and Co Director, University of Vermont,
Department of Community Development and Applied Economics
James Lowenberg-DeBoer, Associate Dean and Director, Purdue University,
International Programs in Agriculture
Don Marshall, Associate Dean & Director of Academic Programs, South Dakota
State University, College of Agriculture & Biological Sciences
Ray McKinnie, Associate Dean and Administrator for Extension and Outreach,
North Carolina A & T, Cooperative Extension Program
William Benjy Mikel, Professor and Head, Mississippi State, College of Agriculture
& Life Sciences, Food Science, Nutrition & Health Promotion
Michael Mullen, Associate Dean for Academic Programs, University of Kentucky,
College of Agriculture
Shiretta Ownbey, Professor andAssociate Dean for Academic Programs and Services, Oklahoma State University, College of Human Environmental Sciences
Sam Pardue, Department Head, North Carolina State University, Department of
Poultry Science
Pamela Price, Section Manager, Pediatric Nutrition Science and Research, Abbott
Laboratory, Abbott Nutrition
Denise Smith, Professor and Chair, The Ohio State University, Department of Food
Science & Technology
Ora Spann, Associate Professor of Management, South Carolina State University,
Business Division
Eric Young, Executive Director, Southern Association of Agricultural Experiment
Station Directors (NCSU)
Lydia Zepeda, Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of
Consumer Science

Visit FSLI on the web at www.fsli.org.