By Larry B. Dendy
University of Georgia
Athens, Ga. — Josef M. Broder will become interim dean and
director of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences Jan. 1. He will fill a vacancy that will
occur when Gale A. Buchanan steps down as dean Dec. 31.
Arnett C. Mace Jr., senior vice president for academic affairs
and provost, announced Broder’s appointment today, pending
approval by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents.
Broder is serving now as interim associate dean for academic
affairs and assistant dean for administration in the CAES. He has
been a faculty member or administrator in the CAES for 27 years.
Buchanan, who has been dean since 1995, will remain on the
college faculty as a professor until he retires on April 30.
A search committee is conducting a national search to identify a
permanent dean.
University Professor
Broder is a professor of agricultural and applied economics. He
holds the title of University Professor, which recognizes faculty
members for making a significant impact on the university.
He received a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from
UGA in 1971 and joined the college faculty in 1977, after earning
master’s and doctoral degrees from Michigan State University.
“Dr. Broder possesses excellent administrative and managerial
capabilities, significant experience, commitment to the College
of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and utmost respect
from his colleagues at UGA and external constituents to serve in
this capacity,” Mace said. “I am very grateful for his
willingness to serve as the interim dean until the search process
is completed.”
Broder’s current administrative duties include managing the
instructional budget for the college. He coordinates recruitment,
orientation, registration, student records and student fee
allocations and expenditures. He also coordinates scholarships,
internships and student awards and oversees promotion and tenure,
faculty leadership programs and awards.
Highly regarded teacher
Before moving into administration, Broder was recognized as one
of the nation’s best teachers in colleges of agricultural and
related sciences.
He has received more than 15 teaching honors, including the
Josiah Meigs Award (UGA’s highest teaching prize), the D.W.
Brooks Distinguished Teaching Award (the college’s top honor) and
the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Award of Excellence
for teaching in food and agricultural sciences.
He was a senior teaching fellow at UGA and a charter member of
UGA’s Teaching Academy, for which he has served as chair since
1999.
He has also been deeply involved in academic advising for
students, serving as his department’s undergraduate advising
coordinator, conducting advisor workshops and personally advising
575 students. He is also the college’s honors program advisor and
has been faculty adviser for several student organizations.
Gwinnett, Tifton courses
Broder led two initiatives to extend UGA academic programs beyond
the Athens campus. He helped develop plans for UGA to provide
courses at the Gwinnett University Center and helped establish
UGA’s Tifton campus degree program that provides courses leading
to degrees in agricultural education and agriscience and
environmental systems. He is now working to establish teaching
programs at UGA’s Griffin campus.
An internship program that Broder developed for Morgan County
grew into a Young Scholars Program that annually brings more than
50 high school students to UGA for a six-week internship.
Broder also helped establish a congressional internship program
that lets CAES students work in the Washington offices of Georgia
congressional representatives.
His published scholarship includes more than 80 articles, many
dealing with teaching. He has also developed several tools and
techniques for teaching agricultural economics that other
colleges have adapted.
He has been president of the Southern Agricultural Economics
Association, a director of the Council for Agricultural Science
and Technology and an executive board member of the World
Association for Case Method Research and Application.
(Larry Dendy is the assistant to the associate vice president
for public affairs of the University of Georgia.)
