Daniel J. Decker has been named new director of the Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station in Ithaca and associate dean of the university's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Decker succeeds W. Ronnie Coffman, who held the positions of director of the Agricultural Experiment Station in Ithaca and associate dean for research in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Coffman will become the director of the college's international programs and the chair of the Department of Plant Breeding. As director of international programs, he will oversee the college's international research, extension and education activities. His role as associate dean for research was assumed by William E. Fry, the college's new senior associate dean.
As for Decker, before taking on his new position, he served as associate director of research for the college and the associate director of the experiment station. He also has served as chair of the Department of Natural Resources and as a co-leader of the Human Dimensions Research Unit, a group of student, staff and faculty researchers devoted to improving understanding of the human sociological aspects of natural resources policy and management for the benefit of stakeholders, policy makers and natural resource management agencies.
Decker will work closely with Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) to improve the integration and the coordination of CCE with the experiment station. He also will oversee administration of federal formula funds received by the experiment station from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Decker's academic specialty is understanding the human dimensions of wildlife policy and management and evaluating wildlife management programs. He earned his bachelor of science degree (1974), his master of science degree (1976) and his doctorate (1986) all from Cornell. He has served the university as a research support specialist, a research associate and senior extension associate. He was named an assistant professor in the university's Department of Natural Resources in 1988, associate professor in 1991 and professor in 1998.
Decker has garnered many awards during his career, including: the Jack H. Berryman Institute for Wildlife Damage Management Award in 1996; the Distinguished Research and Extension Award from Gamma Sigma Delta in 1994; the best journal article of the year award from The Wildlife Society in 1993; the Daniel L. Leedy Urban Wildlife Conservation Award from the National Urban Wildlife Institute in 1993; the John Pearce Memorial Award from The Wildlife Society (Northeast Section) in 1992; and the Young Alumni Achievement Award from Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 1988.
Decker has held elected positions in professional societies, as president and director of the Human Dimensions in Wildlife Study Group; president of the Northeast Section of The Wildlife Society; Northeast Section representative to The Wildlife Society council. Recently he was elected to the leadership of The Wildlife Society, which is a multiple-year sequence of positions that includes the presidency in 2003.
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