A UF alumnus will be returning to UF as the new chairman of the Entomology and Nematology department in Fall 2015.
Blair Siegfried, an entomology professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will become the department’s new chairman on Sept. 1. He will take the place of John Capinera, who is retiring Feb. 28 after serving as the department chair for 28 years, according to an Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences press release.
Blair Siegfried, an entomology professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will become the department’s new chairman on Sept. 1. He will take the place of John Capinera, who is retiring Feb. 28 after serving as the department chair for 28 years.
Director of IFAS human resources, Mary Morgan, wrote in an email Siegfried will have a starting salary of $200,000.
Siegfried received his Masters in entomology from UF in 1984. He said he is excited to come back to UF.
He said he plans to bring his current research on pesticide resistance to Florida.
“The position at Florida certainly provides that opportunity, and there’s a well-established and very productive group of people in the department,” Siegfried said.
Jack Payne, IFAS senior vice president for Agriculture and Natural Resources, played a vital role in choosing Siegfried.
A national search narrowed down three finalists for the department chair position, all of whom participated in a full-campus interview and met with the department. Siegfried was the popular candidate among all of them, Payne said.
“I always feel good when my choice agrees with the faculty’s choice,” he said, “and in this case, he was an overwhelming choice for all of this.”
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 2/17/2015 under the headline “IFAS finds new insect dept chair in alumnus"]
