Contact: Maridith Geuder
G. Sam Foster
The dean of Mississippi State's College of Forest Resources is a new member of the national policy group serving the United States Department of Agriculture.
G. Sam Foster, who also directs the university's Forest and Wildlife Research Center, recently was appointed by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman to a two-year term on the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board.
Foster, who joined the MSU administration in February, is the only board member appointed by Veneman to represent the issues and concerns of national forestry groups.
The national advisory group was established by federal legislation in 1996. The 30-member group represents a variety of constituencies, including farm organizations, food and plant commodities, and food science, human health, and social sciences organizations, among others.
As MSU dean, Foster heads the forestry, forest products, and wildlife and fisheries academic departments. As Forest and Wildlife Research Center director, he leads faculty research efforts in a $6.5 million annual program that provides expertise to Mississippi's $11.9 billion forest and forest products industries, major contributors to the state's economy.
Foster also is a board member of the Mississippi Forestry Commission and vice chairman of the Delta Council's Forestry and Wildlife Committee.
Before coming to Mississippi State, he served for nine years as assistant research director for the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station in Asheville, N.C., where he earlier was a project leader in biotechnology research.
Foster holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Tennessee and a doctorate from Oregon State University. His professional associations include the Society of American Foresters, Forest Products Society, Wildlife Society, and Xi Sigma Pi forestry honor society, among others.
He is one of only two Americans serving on the editorial board of Forest Genetics, an international scholarly journal.