Job Description

Applications are invited for the position of Director of the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech. The School is a national and international leader for improving human wellbeing and quality of life through learning, discovery and engagement in plant and environmental sciences. The School's faculty integrate fundamental discovery as well as applied science to enhance plant and soil health, protect water resources and quality, improve food security, design intelligent human landscapes, and promote environmental stewardship. The School was established in 2018 with the goal of integrating the mission elements across Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences, Horticulture, and Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science.

Within the School, these disciplines share crosscutting interdisciplinary research and are connected through undergraduate curricula and linked graduate programs, as well as through statewide Research, Extension and Outreach activities. The School will consist of 95 affiliated faculty and postdocs, 48 staff, over 115 graduate students and post docs and 7 undergraduate degree programs encompassing 350 students.

With over $8M in annual research expenditures, the School provides an unparalleled opportunity for interdisciplinary research in the food, energy, environment nexus. The responsibilities of the Director will be to provide strategic leadership and vision for the School, effectively oversee administrative, fiscal and human resource matters, advocate with external stakeholders, and pursue teaching, research and development opportunities. The successful candidate will provide leadership across the School in delivery across all missions of teaching, research and Extension. In addition to those core responsibilities, the Director will actively conduct impactful scholarship within the School's mission.

Required Qualifications

Earned Doctorate in Plant, Soil or Environmental Sciences or related field, with an outstanding record of scholarship in research, teaching and/or Extension, and qualified for tenure at the rank of Professor
Demonstrated ability for leadership, strategic planning in a multidisciplinary environment, and management of people and resources at a unit, departmental or higher level
Effectiveness in personnel management, interpersonal and stakeholder communication, and consensus building
Understanding of and commitment to the three missions of a land grant university
A commitment to Virginia Tech's Principles of Community

Preferred Qualifications

Experience in a land grant university

Appointment Type: Regular

Salary Information: Commensurate with Experience

Review Date: 08/15/2025

Additional Information: The successful candidate will be required to have a criminal conviction check.

Virginia Tech

Blacksburg, VA, USA

"Director, School of Plant and Environmental Sciences"

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