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David White Named Dean of UT’s Herbert College of Agriculture

Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that David White will lead the Herbert College of Agriculture in a permanent capacity as dean. He has served in the role of interim dean since the retirement of Caula Beyl in December 2022.

Dave holds tenure as a professor of food science and took on the role of interim head of the UT Department of Food Science in 2019 after serving as associate dean for UT AgResearch.

He has also previously served in several positions in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Office of Foods and Veterinary Medicine including Chief Science Officer/Research Director and Acting Director of the Office of Resource Planning and Strategic Management. Before that, Dave served as the Director of the Division of Animal and Food Microbiology, Director of the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) and Director of the Office of Research at FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine.

Dave has a broad background in agricultural studies. He has a Ph.D. in veterinary sciences/veterinary clinical sciences from Pennsylvania State University, a Master of Science from the University of Kentucky, and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Vermont. His dissertation — Genetic diversity and clonal relationships among pathogenic strains of avian Escherichia coli — remains relevant to current food and animal disease challenges.

With a record enrollment of 2,022 in fall 2024, the Herbert College of Agriculture boasts a 12:1 student to faculty ratio across a variety of programs from agricultural and rural economics, leadership, animal and plant science, food science, biosystems engineering, construction science, soil science and entomology and plant pathology to forestry and natural resources.

Dave brings a wealth of expertise, vision, and understanding of the college’s culture and mission. We look forward to working with Dave, his leadership team, and the college’s faculty and staff as they continue their work to educate students, enhance scholarship, and serve the needs of our state.

Dave will begin his appointment effective immediately.

We also want to thank the search committee co-chairs, Lori Messinger and Bernie Savarese, and the entire search committee for their diligence and thoughtfulness in the search process.

Please join us in congratulating Dave on his new role.

John Zomchick
Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor

Keith Carver
Senior Vice Chancellor and Senior Vice President for the UT Institute of Agriculture