Colleagues,
I’m excited to announce the appointment of Dr. Won Bo Shim as head of the Texas A&M Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, effective Sept. 1.
Dr. Shim has served as the interim head of the department for the past year. Prior to that, he served the department as associate department head for academic affairs and as associate department head for the graduate program.
For 20 years, Dr. Shim has been a leader in research, teaching and service in the department. His research, which focuses on fungal pathogens of field crops such as corn, cotton and watermelon, has been funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the National Science Foundation and other extramural funds. He has also developed multidisciplinary collaborations with colleagues at Texas A&M and other institutions worldwide to explore innovative projects such as finding solutions to remediate environmental waste.
Dr. Shim is a teacher and mentor for graduate and undergraduate courses in plant pathology and bioenvironmental sciences. He enriches his classes with high-impact experiences such as peer interviews, open-technology classrooms, undergraduate research and study-abroad courses. In 2021, he was awarded the Dean’s Outstanding Achievement Award in Educational Enrichment and Innovation.
Dr. Shim earned his bachelor’s in agricultural biology and master’s in plant pathology from Seoul National University, Korea, and his doctorate in plant pathology from Purdue University. Before joining the Texas A&M faculty, he conducted post-doctoral research with the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service.
Please join me in congratulating Dr. Shim on his new appointment!
Thanks, and Gig ’em,
Jeffrey W. Savell
Vice Chancellor and Dean, Agriculture and Life Sciences