Jack Payne, senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources at the University of Florida, will be on the University of Idaho campus today as the second candidate in the search for the next UI president.
Payne will visit all UI campuses throughout the week, and will participate in open forums on the Moscow campus at 9:30 a.m. in the Administration Auditorium and 3:30 p.m. at the 1912 Center today.
Payne, 66, has worked at the University of Florida since 2010 and oversees the university’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. His work at UF has focused primarily on land-grant initiatives and extending research as UF is the land-grant university of Florida.
Prior to UF, Payne served as the vice president for extension and outreach at Iowa State University and the vice president for university extension and dean for continuing education at Utah State University.
Tim Vitale, director of public relations and marketing at Utah State University, said Payne is still missed at the university for his ability to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences.
“He was a master communicator,” Vitale said. “He was very in touch with the people out in the community. When he was here as vice president for extension … that’s a position that gets him out of the institutions — out of the walls of academia — and into the communities out in the community. He’s very good in both capacities and he could get right down there and get his hands dirty no problem or he could speak the voice of academia at a high level.”
Payne earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Temple University, followed by a master’s in aquatic ecology and a Ph.D. in wildlife ecology from Utah State. Payne also graduated from the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard in 2002.
Once Payne finished his doctorate in 1983 he worked as a professor and extension wildlife specialist at Pennsylvania State University and Texas A&M, followed by 11 years working in various positions for Ducks Unlimited Inc. — a non-profit organization focused on the conservation of wetlands and waterfowl.
Once he returned to academia Payne has focused primarily on outreach and land grant values at the universities he has worked at.
“I’m an extension guy … I eat and breathe outreach,” Payne said in a 2010 interview with The Gainsville Sun after he was hired by UF.
Upon hiring Payne in 2010 Bernie Machen, UF president, said Payne’s experience in land grant institutions was a primary reason he was hired.
“Jack Payne’s wealth of experience from both in and out of land grant institutions gives him a keen vision to guide UF to meet the 21st Century challenges facing the state’s agriculture industry and to educate a new generation of students,” said Machen said in a 2010 interview with Florida Farm Bureau.
The three remaining finalists in the presidential search will be on campus in the next two weeks.
James Applegate, consultant for higher education and philanthropy for the Lumina Foundation will be on the Moscow campus Oct. 22, followed by Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of South Dakota Chuck Staben on Oct. 24.
The final candidate, Laurie Stenberg Nichols — provost and vice president for academic affairs at South Dakota University — will be on campus Oct. 29.
The search committee will select a candidate to be appointed by the Idaho State Board of Education by the end of the semester. The selected candidate will take over the position by July 1 depending on contractual obligations in their current position.
Kaitlyn Krasselt [email protected]