Colleagues,
I am pleased to announce that Elizabeth Parker, D.V.M., has been named associate director of operations and strategic initiatives for Texas A&M AgriLife Research, effective March 16. Dr. Parker fills the role previously occupied by Dr. David Lunt, who recently retired.
Dr. Parker will oversee the agency’s strategic and financial planning and will work to increase available funds for research. She will oversee statewide research infrastructure, faculty financial requests and internal grant funding, investments in research, and intellectual property and commercialization for AgriLife Research.
Dr. Parker joined AgriLife Research in 2014 as chief veterinarian for the Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases. She was later appointed as AgriLife Research international and strategic partnerships specialist. Prior to her time with AgriLife, Dr. Parker built a distinguished career in agriculture policy at the national and international level. She helped manage a wide variety of issues as professional staff of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture, and worked on global disease strategies and policy for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Dr. Parker attended Texas A&M, earning her bachelor’s in biomedical science in 1987, bachelor’s in veterinary medicine in 1990 and doctorate in veterinary medicine in 1993. Please help me welcome Dr. Parker to her new role with AgriLife Research.
I am also happy to share with you a new opportunity for those interested in administration. The AgriLife Research Director’s Administrative Fellows program, a six-month rotating leadership development position, will engage interested administrators throughout Texas in special projects, working closely with central administration. The fellows are expected to join meetings remotely with occasional travel. Please see the attached document for additional details about the program, as well as application instructions. Please note that applications are due by April 1.
Thank you,
Patrick J. Stover, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor and Dean for Agriculture and Life Sciences, Texas A&M AgriLife
Director, Texas A&M AgriLife Research