INDUSTRY The agents offer workshops to golf course managers, sports field managers, landscape installers, landscape managers, groundskeepers, garden curators and others. They are also training UGA’s Master Gardener Extension Volunteer force to lead irrigation usage workshops. Orellana hopes to install an irrigation system demonstration and research site on the UGA Griffin campus. “It is only natural to start building the skills our county agents need to help our clients in the best way we can,” said Orellana. In 2017, UGA Extension welcomed eight water educators who were formerly part of the Georgia Soil and Water Conservation
Commission. Their positions were transferred to UGA Extension by then Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal. These educators support farmers, green industry representatives and homeowners by performing water audits and providing a mobile irrigation lab that makes on-farm visits to check the performance of center-pivot irrigation systems. In north Georgia, the Extension water educators help farmers implement natural resource conservation best management practices, teach clients how to maintain drip irrigation, and share information about homeowner irrigation systems. For more information on water wise programs from UGA Extension, go to site.extension.uga.edu/water.
UGA CAES appoints interim dean Joe West to lead the CAES by Sam Fahmy for CAES News
UAC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2020
Joe West, who most
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recently served as assistant dean of the University of Georgia Tifton Campus, has been named interim dean and director of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, effective July 1.
Joe West has been named interim dean and director of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, effective July 1. West is a professor in UGA's Department of Animal and Dairy Science, and his career with CAES has spanned nearly 35 years.
West is a professor in the UGA Department of Animal and Dairy Science, and his career with CAES has spanned nearly 35 years. In his 12 years as assistant dean, he oversaw enhancements to the learning environment
for students, as well as growth in research activity and Extension programming on the Tifton Campus. From 2002 to 2004, he served as interim head of the Department of Animal and Dairy Science. As previously announced, Samuel Pardue, who has led the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences since 2016, intends to step down on June 30. A national search is currently underway for the next dean and director of the college. “I am grateful to Dr. West for taking on this important role,” said S. Jack Hu, UGA’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “His demonstrated record of leadership will serve the college and the university well during this transition period.” About the author Sam Fahmy is director of public relations for the University of Georgia's Office of the Senior Vicepresident for Academic Affairs and Provost.
