University of Georgia Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Pamela Whitten has appointed a committee to begin a national search to fill the position of dean and director of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Josef M. Broder, who has served as associate dean for academic affairs for the past decade, has agreed to serve as interim dean beginning September 19.

Sheila Allen, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, will chair the 23-member search committee, which includes faculty from UGA’s campuses in Athens, Griffin and Tifton, staff, students, and alumni, as well as government and agribusiness representatives.

Additional search committee members are:

• Gary Black, UGA alumnus and commissioner of the Georgia Department of Agriculture.

• Cader Cox III, UGA alumnus, CEO of Riverview Plantation and UGA Research Foundation board member.

• Griffin Doyle, vice president for government relations at UGA.

• Michael Doyle, Regents’ Professor in the department of food science and technology and director of the Center for Food Safety at UGA-Griffin.

• Zippy Duvall, president of Georgia Farm Bureau and a member of the Georgia 4-H Foundation Board of Trustees.

• Haley Gilleland, a graduate student pursing a master’s degree in animal science who recently earned her bachelor’s degree from UGA and served as Collegiate 4-H vice president and lead camp counselor at Rock Eagle 4-H Center.

• Stefani Hilley, administrative associate in the CAES Office of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and a UGA Staff Council representative.

• Scott Jackson, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in the department of crop and soil sciences and director of UGA’s Center for Applied Genetic Technologies.

• Laura Perry Johnson, associate dean for UGA Extension, who most recently served as Southwest District Extension Director in Tifton.

• Jeffrey L. Jordan, professor of agricultural and applied economics at UGA-Griffin and director of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program.

• Kay Kelsey, professor and head of the department of agricultural leadership, education and communication.

• Zenglu Li, associate professor of crop and soil sciences and principal investigator in UGA’s Soybean Breeding and Molecular Genetics Laboratory.

• Francis “Abit” Massey, former president of the UGA Alumni Association, emeritus trustee of the UGA Foundation, president emeritus of the Georgia Poultry Federation and member of the UGA Research Foundation and UGA Real Estate Foundation.

• Laura Meadows, director of UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government.

• Kristen Navara, associate professor of endocrinology in the department of poultry science.

• Maria Navarro, associate professor of agricultural leadership, education and communication.

• Peggy Ozias-Akins, professor of horticulture at the Tifton Coastal Plain Experiment Station and director of the Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics.

• Anne Sapp, UGA alumna and chair of the Georgia 4-H Foundation Board of Trustees.

• Steven Stice, GRA Eminent Scholar in the department of animal and diary science and director of UGA’s Regenerative Bioscience Center.

• Michael Strand, Regents’ Professor in the department of entomology.

• Ron Walcott, professor of plant pathology.

• Franklin West, assistant professor of animal and dairy science.

The committee will be assisted by the UGA Search Group in Human Resources.

J. Scott Angle, who has served as dean of the college since 2005, recently announced that he will step down from his position to lead the International Fertilizer Development Center, a global organization that works to alleviate hunger.