Hear the new Dean of the Agriculture and Natural Resources department, Mark Rieger, speak about why he came to the University of Delaware, his background and his plans for the college. In this interview, Rieger ties the college’s multiple missions together: agriculture, ecology, bio-tech, cooperative extension, undergraduate education, cutting edge research, and graduate education.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Listen to the interview

Dean Mark Rieger (09/20/12)
30:18
27.8 MB

About our guest

Mark Rieger became dean of UD’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources on August 1, 2012. He had served as associate dean and professor in the University of Florida’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences since 2006 and was interim dean in 2010-11. Prior to joining the University of Florida faculty, he was a professor in the University of Georgia’s Department of Horticulture from 1999-2006.

Rieger received a bachelor’s degree in horticulture in from the Pennsylvania State University, a master’s degree in horticulture from the University of Georgia and a doctorate in horticultural sciences from the University of Florida. He brings with him a wealth of experience in undergraduate and graduate programs, distance education, statewide degree completion programs, cooperative extension, horticulture, biotechnology, and international education. His published research focuses on carbohydrate metabolism and stress responses of fruit trees, including grower-oriented applied research on peach, blueberry, and other fruit crops. As a teacher, he has taught classes at both the undergraduate and graduate level and has authored a respected textbook: Introduction to Fruit Crops (Taylor and Francis, 2006). He currently serves as Editor of the Agricultural and Environmental Sciences discipline of MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching).

Dean Rieger is committed to continuing the College’s many interrelated missions in both agricultural sciences and ecology: research, graduate education, undergraduate education, cooperative extension, and direct community involvement. In his initial welcome message at the College’s Web site, Rieger said that UD’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources can be both a repository of knowledge based on three millennia of agricultural practices and ecological observation and a “crucible for forging new discoveries, new policies, … and [new] advocates for agriculture and the environment.”

Learn more

• Dean Rieger’s Greeting to visitors to the UD College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Web site
• Rieger named dean of College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (UDaily, 5/31/12)
• Delaware Cooperative Extension
• Garden for the Community:
  • Harvest to home: Garden for the Community supplies Food Bank of Delaware (UDaily 7/31/11
  • Food Bank of Delaware, UD to celebrate harvest with Evening in the Garden (UDaily 7/12/12)
• UD’s Ecology Major (Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources)
• Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT)

 

Photo credit: UD College of Agriculture and Natural Resources