Dear colleagues,
Jody Jellison will be leaving Virginia Tech in late December to assume a new role as the director of the Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and assistant vice chancellor for agricultural research and engagement. She has served as the associate director of Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station for the past five years.
I would like to congratulate Jody on her new appointment and thank her for the excellent performance and the many contributions she has made to the VAES and CALS. She will be greatly missed and I wish her continued success in this new phase of her career.
I am pleased to announce that Sue Duncan, professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology, has accepted our offer to serve as the associate director of VAES effective Jan. 10, 2016.
Sue joined Virginia Tech as an assistant professor in 1990. She has developed an excellent teaching and research program that focuses on flavor, sensory quality, and nutrient value of the food, including consumer emotional response to food and packaging. From 2004-2011, Sue served as the director of Virginia Tech Macromolecular Interfaces with Life Sciences IGERT program funded by the National Science Foundation and currently serves as a co-director of the Virginia Tech Water INTERface Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program. Sue is the recipient of several awards and recognitions and is very active in her discipline at the national level.
I am delighted that she has accepted our offer to serve in this new leadership role. Please join me in congratulating and welcoming Sue in her new position.
Thank you,
Saied Mostaghimi