Soils professor Birl Lowery named Senior Associate Dean
Birl Lowery, Professor of Soil Science, has been appointed to the position of CALS Senior Associate Dean. He will begin the job on Dec. 15. This is the college’s number-two administrative position, responsible for a broad range of activities including faculty hiring, promotion, tenure and compensation, faculty and staff retention, and all program reviews. Lowery will also serve as the college’s primary authority on budget matters and the primary contact for department chairs and center directors. He will work with the Dean on policy issues and represent the college at campus and off-campus events when the Dean is not available. All CALS associate deans will report to him, along with the Dean’s office staff and most of the college’s assistant deans.
In accepting this appointment Lowery takes over a portion of the duties currently assigned to Ray Guries, who has been serving as Interim Senior Associate Dean and Associate Dean for Research since 2009. Those duties will now be split between Lowery and Rick Lindroth, who was appointed Associate Dean for Research in October. Like Lindroth, Lowery will have a 75 percent administrative appointment and devote the balance of his time to his research program.
Lowery joined the CALS faculty as an assistant professor in 1980 and was promoted to full professor in 1992. His research program focuses on soil physics, soil and water management and soil conservation issues. He has had a range of administrative experience, including serving as department chair, a member of the CALS Academic Planning Council, Acting Director of the Science and Medical Graduate Research Scholars program, and Coordinator of Special Grants on Water Quality with the USDA.