image: Dr. Tim Cross, Chancellor of the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, is the recipient of the Southern Extension Service Award for Excellence in Leadership from the Association of Southern Region Extension Directors (ASRED).? The award recognizes those who have served Southern Extension Services, ASRED, and the national land-grant university system with exemplary distinction. view more
Credit: Photo courtesy ASRED.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Tim Cross is well respected for his leadership of the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture within the state of Tennessee, and that admiration extends across the southern United States.
Cross is the recipient of the Southern Extension Service Award for Excellence in Leadership from the Association of Southern Region Extension Directors (ASRED). The award recognizes those who have served Southern Extension Services, ASRED, and the national land-grant university system with exemplary distinction. Cross received the award at the group's April 24-27 meeting in New Orleans.
"This award means a lot to me because it's from a group of outstanding leaders who have taught me a great deal during my time as an Extension administrator," Cross says. "The members of ASRED are people I admire, respect and trust, and this recognition serves to further inspire and motivate me in my role as chancellor."
In nomination materials, Cross was praised for work at the national level in areas such as the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy, the Southern Region Program Leadership Network's Resource Development Committee, the USDA's Advisory Committee on Beginning Farmers and Ranchers and its Small Business Innovation Research Program, and the National Women in Agriculture Advisory Committee.
Dr. Delton Gerloff, Interim Dean for UT Extension, Dr. Edwin Jones, Associate Dean and Director of Virginia Cooperative Extension at Virginia Tech University, and Dr. Jimmy Henning, Associate Dean for Extension for the University of Kentucky, nominated Cross for the honor.
"The service appointments and accomplishments by Dr. Cross place him in a small group of people who continue to make a difference in fulfilling the land-grant mission," says Gerloff.
"Tim exemplifies the best in Extension and has distinguished himself at every level and in every role he has ever taken on," says Henning. "His knowledge of economics, of farm management and Extension was all utilized in the development of policies and procedures that became national policy."
Cross was named UT's Chancellor for Agriculture in December 2016 after having served the institution 23 years, including a stint as Interim Chancellor last fall. He was later confirmed by the UT Board of Trustees to assume the job permanently, and began his new appointment the first day of 2017. He has also served as Dean of UT Extension and Professor in Agricultural Economics. From upstate New York, Cross has spent time as a student and faculty member at Oklahoma State, Fort Hays State in Kansas and Oregon State universities. He and his family live on a farm in east Knox County where they raise livestock, and all four Cross children have been active in 4-H.
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