Dear Colleagues,
After leading the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate (SWAC) for the last 12 years, Carl Rosen has decided to return to faculty and refocus his time on research and teaching. He will remain in his position until a successor is named. We are conducting a search to fill this role, and I have asked Professor Gary Muehlbauer, Head of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, to chair the committee. Thanks to Dr. Muehlbauer for taking on this important role.
As department head, Carl has been a tireless advocate for Soil, Water, Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, leading the department in several outstanding new faculty hires through AGREETT and including key extension faculty and educators. A strong collaborator across departments and centers, Carl was instrumental in programming with the Water Resources Center and a driver of the interagency/University partnership in the Minnesota Office of Soil Health.
In support of research and outreach delivery, Carl oversaw the renovation of the Soil Testing and Research Analytical Laboratory that serves a critical role in our internal research and education programs, but also provides services to businesses and individuals across Minnesota.
Carl worked with the Minnesota Association of Professional Soil Scientists for two years to establish an official state soil for Minnesota. On April 28, 2012, Governor Mark Dayton signed a bill designating Lester as the official Minnesota State soil.
With generous donations, Carl also helped to establish two Professorships in the department. The Raymond Allmaras Professorship in Emerging Issues in Soil and Water was established in 2013, and a Professorship in Land and Atmospheric Science was established in 2018.
Finally, Carl ensured that SWAC’s important role across the spectrum of natural resources, agriculture and climate science was integrated across CFANS interdisciplinary curriculum at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Environmental Sciences, Policy and Management, Food Systems, Applied Plant Science and Water Resource Sciences, and Land and Atmospheric Science are clear examples of this.
Carl earned his BS and MS degrees in Horticulture from Penn State University, and his PhD in Soil Science from the University of California, Davis. He joined CFANS in 1983 as an assistant professor in what was at that time called the Soil Science Department. He became an associate professor in that department in 1989. Since 1995, he has been a professor in SWAC. For various periods between 2002 and 2008, he also served as interim head of the Department of Horticultural Science and interim associate dean for CFANS Extension.
In SWAC, Carl maintains an active research program related to nutrient management for crop production, as well as advising graduate students. The responsibilities of his research and extension programs include identifying needs and establishing priorities in plant nutrition and improving fertilizer use efficiency for crop production in Minnesota. He is a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America.
I will be back in touch with additional updates and postings about the search process. In the meantime, please join me in thanking Carl for all he has done for SWAC as he prepares to return to his faculty position.
Sincerely,
Brian Buhr
Dean, College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences
Director, Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station
Professor, Department of Applied Economics