President names new senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources

February 26, 2010

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Jack Payne has been selected as the University of Florida’s next senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources, UF President Bernie Machen announced today.

Payne currently serves as the vice president for extension and outreach at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, a post he has held since 2006. He worked in a similar position at Utah State University prior to joining ISU. He begins his new role at UF on June 1.

“Jack Payne’s wealth of experience from both in and out of land-grant institutions gives him a keen vision to guide UF to meet the 21st Century challenges facing the state’s agriculture industry and to educate a new generation of students,” Machen said. “We look forward to his contributions as a member of the senior leadership team.”

Payne, 63, has spent much of his career helping solve agronomic problems for the benefit of farmers and wildlife while at several large land-grant institutions and with Ducks Unlimited, the world’s largest private wetlands conservation organization.

“It is an honor to become a part of UF, one of the country’s great land-grant universities,” Payne said. “UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is the heart of that land-grant ideal and it will be important to build upon its strengths and existing strong foundation and to continue to produce tangible and conspicuous benefits to its two most important stakeholders: our students and Florida residents.”

As senior vice president, Payne will lead IFAS, which includes the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the School of Natural Resources and Environment, the School of Forest Resources and Conservation, portions of the College of Veterinary Medicine, the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, 13 research and education centers and the Florida Cooperative Extension Service, with offices in each of the state’s 67 counties.

Payne holds a master’s degree in aquatic ecology and a doctorate in wildlife ecology, both from Utah State University. He is a graduate of the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard University and earned his bachelor’s degree at Temple University.

He has served on the faculty of four land-grant institutions: The Pennsylvania State University, Texas A&M University, Utah State University and Iowa State University. The Pennsylvania native spent most of his career in the agriculture-rich states of Texas, California, Washington, Iowa and Utah, working to meet the needs of ranchers and farmers.

“Everything I have done in my career, I believe, has prepared me for the great challenges and wonderful opportunities that await me at the University of Florida,” Payne said.

He serves as chairman of the board on agriculture for the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and represents the land-grant system in the annual federal appropriation process. His work with the APLU has included developing the land-grant systems’ needs for the Farm Bill legislation. He also is a key representative on policy changes with the U.S. Department of Agriculture as they apply to land-grant universities.

Payne succeeds Larry Arrington, who was appointed interim senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources last year when Jimmy Cheek left to become chancellor of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.