Five new chairs named in CALS this semester

Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has announced five new department chairs this semester. They are:

Rosemary S. Caffarella, Education. Before joining the faculty at Cornell this summer, she was a professor of educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Northern Colorado and an adjunct professor in continuing education at the University of Calgary. Caffarella succeeds Dalva Hedlund. Her research is focused on adult learning and development, program planning and evaluation, and leadership development.

Ronald Harris-Warrick, Neurobiology and Behavior. Harris-Warrick, who studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the activity of small neural networks in crustaceans, such as lobsters, succeeds co-chairs Ronald Hoy and Andrew Bass. He teaches Introduction to Neurobiology; Drugs and the Brain. Harris-Warrick joined the Cornell faculty in 1980.

Joseph H. Hotchkiss, Food Science. Hotchkiss, who studies the use of synthetic polymers in food packaging, safety and risks associated with foods, and the toxicology of food ingredients, succeeds Dennis Miller as department chair. Hotchkiss came to the food science faculty in 1980 from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Washington, D.C. He teaches introductory and advanced courses in food science. He serves on the National Food Advisory Committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and has worked with the Food Chemicals Codex of the National Academy of Sciences and the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization. He also recently was elected a fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists.

Barbara A. Knuth, Natural Resources. Knuth, who studies natural resource policy and management, including the human dimensions of natural resource management and program evaluation, succeeds Jim Lassoie as chair. Knuth joined the natural resources faculty as an assistant professor after earning her doctorate from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1986. Knuth is also a co-leader of the Cornell Human Dimensions Research Unit, a position she has held since 1991. She is an elected member of the Fish and Wildlife Executive Committee of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges.

Marvin P. Pritts, Horticulture. Pritts, who studies plant nutrition, ecological approaches to weed control and pest management, methods of season extension, crop response to environmental stress, and genotype-environment interactions in berry crops, succeeds H. Christian Wien. Pritts came to Cornell in 1984 with responsibilities in research, extension and teaching of small fruit production. His extension efforts are directed to commercial berry growers.