Dr. Rodney J. Brown
Utah State University

Biography:

Rodney J. Brown is Dean of Agriculture and Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences at Utah State University. Dr. Brown received his B.S. degree at Brigham Young University, his M.S. degree at Utah State University, and his Ph.D. at North Carolina State University, all in Food Science with emphases on Chemistry and Biochemistry. He then spent two years at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel before beginning his academic career in 1979 as an Assistant Professor at Utah State University. Prior to his present administrative assignment he served as Head of the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Director of the Western Dairy Foods Research Center, and spent one year as Acting Vice President for Research. He had a sabbatical year in England.

Dr. Brown has been active in the Institute of Food Technologists, American Dairy Science Association, Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, the International Dairy Commission, Sigma Xi, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society, and Phi Kappa Phi. He is currently Chair of the Board on Agriculture of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC). In addition to his administrative responsibilities, he has mentored eight M.S. and eleven Ph.D. students, hosted seven post-doctoral students and visiting professors, and published over 50 refereed papers.

Dr. Brown has received the American Dairy Science Association Pfizer, Inc. Award for Cheese and Cultured Products Research, the Utah State University Leone Administrative Leadership Award, the Honored Alumnus Award from the College of Biology and Agriculture at Brigham Young University, and was the G. Malcolm Trout Visiting Scholar in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Michigan State University. He and his wife Sandy have three grown children, two sons-in-law and five grandchildren.