USDA NIFA Leadership Changes Announced

Dionne Toombs (pictured left) has been appointed to serve as Acting Director of USDA NIFA. With over a decade of USDA service, Dr. Toombs has significantly contributed to USDA’s agricultural research, education, and Extension services while serving in various leadership roles. Most recently, she was Director of the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS). She served as the head of the Division of Nutrition at NIFA and as the National Program Leader (NPL) for the Agriculture Food and Research Initiative. Prior to serving as NPL, Dr. Toombs was a Program Specialist for Food Science and Nutrition at the former USDA Cooperative State Research Education and Extension Service, now NIFA. She started at USDA as a student intern at USDA’s Agriculture Research Service. Dr. Toombs earned her Ph.D. in Nutritional Sciences from Howard University, her Master of Science degree in Food Science from Alabama A & M University, and her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Bethune-Cookman University. Additionally, with the departure of Parag Chitnis, NIFA Liaison to ECOP and longtime NIFA Program Leader Brent Elrod will step in as Acting Associate Director of Programs. ECOP congratulates these outstanding leaders.

Last Reminder for 2022 Award Nominations - The deadline for the National Extension Awards nominations is May 1, 2022, 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Full details, answers to frequently asked questions, and handy draft documents are available at www.aplu.org/CESawards. 

APLU Announces Selection of New President - The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) has announced that after an extensive search process, the APLU Presidential Search Committee and Board of Directors unanimously approved the selection of Mark P. Becker (pictured left) to serve as the association’s next president effective September 1, 2022. He will succeed Peter McPherson who has served as APLU’s president since January 2006 and who will remain at APLU through August 31, 2022. See the press release here.

A Roadmap for Delivering Opportunity and Investments in Rural America - The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will invest billions of dollars in rural communities across the country. Supporting Americans living in rural areas remains a top priority for the Administration, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law delivers on the President’s promises to work toward delivering affordable, high-speed internet, safe roads and bridges, modern wastewater systems, clean drinking water, reliable and affordable electricity, and good paying jobs in every rural community. To deliver on these promises, the Administration is committed to improving transparency into the availability of federal infrastructure resources to support rural communities’ ability to access these critical funds. See the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Rural Playbook | The White House.

May 24-26, 2022-Making Climate-Smart Agriculture Work - The USDA NIFA-funded Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) is an international community of experts advancing methods for improving predictions on the future performance of agricultural and food systems. AgMIP will host a national conference from May 24-26, 2022, on Making Climate-Smart Agriculture Work. The focus of the virtual conference is to share information and best practices regarding integrating science, modeling and economics to help farmers, ranchers and foresters mitigate and adapt to the challenges of climate change. Click here for full details and to register.