Campus News

Candidate 2 for VP for land-grant engagement, dean to participate in open forum

Aerial view of crop fields with a white farm building in the background.
UK Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture Research Farm

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 23, 2024) — After an extensive national search, the University of Kentucky will bring two finalists for a new vice president for land-grant engagement and dean of the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment to campus for forums and meetings. The finalists, who will be engaging with the community in a number of ways, were selected from candidates across the nation.  

The second candidate will participate in an open forum at 3 p.m. Oct. 24 in the Gluck Equine Research Center Auditorium. Members of the UK community are encouraged to attend and to provide feedback. Those who cannot attend in person may view the forum on Zoom. 

Zoom information, along with the names and CVs of finalists will be made available on the search website only to the UK community 24 hours prior to the day of their first meeting on campus. 

Following each forum, a recording of the forum and a confidential online survey about the candidate will be made available on the search website for 48 hours. This provides members of the campus community the opportunity to assess strengths and areas of growth for each candidate. NOTE: Recordings and surveys of candidates whose open forums occurred on a Thursday will be available through 5 p.m. the following Saturday.  

Supervisors are encouraged to work with their team members so they can participate in the open forums as much as is feasible.  

UK President Eli Capilouto and Provost Robert S. DiPaola announced a committee charged with conducting the search. They will make a selection after receiving feedback from the committee and campus. 

As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.