GUTHRIE TO HEAD AU COLLEGE
OF AGRICULTURE,
EXPERIMENT STATION

Richard L. Guthrie has been named dean of the College of Agriculture and director of the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station at Auburn University.

AU Provost John Heilman announced the appointment following an internal search that included public presentations by the top candidates.

“The College of Agriculture and the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station will be in good hands with a leader of Dr. Guthrie’s caliber,” said Heilman. “He has a lengthy record of achievement within the college and the experiment station and has earned a tremendous amount of respect as an academic leader within the college, throughout the university and among agricultural leaders in Alabama and internationally.”

Guthrie, formerly associate dean emeritus and professor emeritus, had served as acting dean and director since coming out of retirement in May to lead the college and its research arm during the search for someone to serve for a longer-term appointment. He succeeds Michael Weiss, who has assumed full-time duties with the faculty.

The new agricultural dean and director retired from AU in 2003 after 20 years on the College of Agriculture faculty. He came to Auburn in 1983 as professor and head of the Department of Agronomy and Soils, after nearly 20 years experience with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Soil Conservation Service. Early in his career, he served as an Extension Soils Specialist at AU in 1974-75 and as state soils specialist with the U.S.D.A. at Auburn from 1975-78.

Guthrie served as acting dean of the college in 1985-88 and as associate dean from 1988-2003. Active in international agricultural research and extension, he was a Fulbright Scholar to Thailand in 1988 and has managed agricultural projects in Haiti and Mali. Since 1986, he has served as liaison for an academic interchange agreement between the AU College of Agriculture and Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences in China.

He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Auburn and a Ph.D. in Soil Science from Cornell University.