By Allison Larrimore, Oct. 1, 2024
The Don B. Huntley College of Agriculture is entering its seventh year without a full-time dean and has experienced multiple faculty and staff changes throughout the 2024-2025 academic year, including the dean, associate dean and department chairs. Former Interim Dean Martin Sancho-Madriz stepped down at the end of spring 2024 after three years and will return as a professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Science.
According to an announcement on the college’s news page, as of July 1, Alison Baski is serving as interim dean for the college in addition to being the dean of the College of Science.
This is the second time Baski has led two colleges at once. She also served as interim dean for the College of Engineering for three years from 2020 to 2023. Her goals as interim dean this time around are to get to know everyone in the Don B. Huntley College of Agriculture and make sure it maintains stability and success.
“Life is about priorities and also having a team around you,” said Baski. “I welcome opportunities where I can feel like I’m helping to make a difference and at the same time get to learn.”
Associate Dean Peter Kilduff also stepped down after two years in his position and five as interim. Gabriel Davidov-Pardo will serve as interim associate dean, while Kilduff continues to assist the Don B. Huntley College of Agriculture through the Faculty Early Retirement Program.
As interim associate dean, Davidov-Pardo is enthusiastic about increasing applications and growing programs with room for improvement to ensure student success.
“I keep working closely with our student success team and departments to ensure the success of our current students, so that they have a clear career path from when they come to us,” said Davidov-Pardo. “They graduate on time and then they find jobs that are fulfilling for them, for paths, jobs or grad school.”
Two departments in the college have also had changes in leadership with new department chairs. Following Muditha Senanayake’s retirement as chair of the Department of Apparel Merchandising and Management – effective July 31 – Professors Jiangning Che and Chitra Dabas will both serve as interim co-chairs of the department. The Department of Animal and Veterinary Science also announced June 13 its new chair is Associate Professor Hyungchul Han.
In her new position, although temporary, Dabas aims to support the faculty members in her department to increase the quantity of students through community college partnerships as well as the amount of resources provided to enhance the quality of their education.
Despite the changes in leadership, she is hopeful the learning curves will settle down once someone comes into the position permanently.
The college is also one of many affected by the California State University’s systemwide budget cuts, and it’s a major concern for the agriculture faculty and staff. As previously reported by The Poly Post, the Cal Poly Pomona Horse and Livestock Show Teams each experienced a 45% budget cut for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. As a result of the decrease in funding, both teams will charge for membership – a first for the Livestock Show Team – and the Horse Show Team will also be charging for lessons.
The cuts also affect the maintenance of properties such as AGRIscapes and Spadra Farm that serve as functioning laboratories for agriculture students, adding to the challenges the college is facing this year, according to Dabas and Baski.
Amidst the setbacks, Baski remains positive with the help of Davidov-Pardo, who has been with the college for almost a decade, to get up to speed and make things easier for the next dean.
“(These changes are) a challenge because trying to prioritize, what are the top three to five priorities at any given time,” said Baski. “When you have so many different things moving, that many moving pieces, you have to step back and make some decisions, but there’s a lot of incredible energy from the faculty here.”
Feature Image Courtesy of Allison Larrimore