Three Finalists are Named for Colorado State University’s Vice Provost and Dean of Agricultural Sciences

The search committee seeking a new vice provost and dean of agricultural sciences for Colorado State University has narrowed applicants to three candidates. The three are Michael H. Chaplin, professor and head of the department of horticulture at Iowa State University; Fred Cholick, dean of the College of Agricultural and Biological Sciences at South Dakota State University; and Lee Sommers, interim dean of Colorado State’s College of Agricultural Sciences and director of the university’s Agricultural Experiment Station. Chaplin, who earned a doctorate from Michigan State University in horticulture plant nutrition, has had extensive experience as a professor and administrator at Pennsylvania State University.

Cholick, who earned a doctorate in agronomy, breeding and genetics from Colorado State, also conducted research at Oregon State University.

Sommers, interim dean since 1999, holds a University of Wisconsin doctorate in soil science and taught at Purdue University and Colorado State before taking over the latter’s ag research programs in 1996.

Committee chairman Al Dyer, dean of the College of Natural Resources, said the committee hopes for a final decision by early summer.