Owens new head of OSU natural resource ecology and management

Friday, April 20, 2007

M. Keith Owens has been appointed head of the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources’s newly established Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, effective Aug. 1.

The department conducts interdisciplinary research, instruction and extension education to address the sustainable management and conservation of Oklahoma's fishery, forest, rangeland and wildlife resources and beyond.

“Dr. Owens’ leadership experience, as well as his applied ecological research programs and successful extramural funding record, make him uniquely qualified for department head,” said Robert E. Whitson, vice president, dean and director of agricultural programs at OSU.

“He brings a wealth of land-grant experience and an outstanding record of accomplishments and leadership to the position. We are very pleased that he is joining our agricultural leadership team.”

As department head, Owens will provide leadership for planning, developing, integrating and implementing departmental teaching, research, extension and international programs; the department's diversity efforts to recruit and retain outstanding faculty, staff and students; and the pursuit of competitive grants, research contracts, gifts and other special funding, including endowments for scholarships, fellowships, chairs and professorships.

Owens comes to OSU from the Texas A&M system, where he has served in several significant leadership roles for the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station since 1987. Much of his research has focused on the sustainable use of natural resources. Owens has served as editor-in-chief of Rangeland Ecology & Management since 2004.

He is a member of the Society for Range Management, the Ecological Society of America, the Botanical Society of America and the American Geophysical Union.

Owens earned his doctoral degree in range science from Utah State University in 1987 and his master’s degree in range management from the University of Wyoming in 1981. He also earned a bachelor’s degree in forest management and a bachelor’s degree in range management from the University of Idaho in 1977.