Title VIA Task Force will be bringing three guest lecturers to Santa Fe College this semester. The first, Dr. David J. Sammons, will speak at 4 p.m. Thursda, February 28. He will address the question: “Why Be an Internationalist?”
Dr. Sammons is currently the dean of the International Center at the University of Florida. His 45-person office provides administrative leadership, facilitation and support for international activities for the entire campus. Before this role, he held the position of Director of International Programs in the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. From 2004 to 2006, Dr. Sammons was on assignment with USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) while on leave from Purdue University, working as the senior advisor for University Relations and Agricultural Research, Training and Outreach in the Office of Agriculture at the agency. At Purdue, he held the position of associate dean of the College of Agriculture and director of the Office of International Programs in Agriculture from 1993 to 2004. Previous to Purdue, Dr. Sammons was employed for 15 years (1978 to 1993) at the University of Maryland as a professor of agronomy with responsibilities in teaching and research on crop breeding as well as multiple administrative assignments. During the 1986 – 1987 academic year, he was a Fulbright Senior Fellow/Lecturer at Egerton University in Kenya. He has served on the boards of two global agricultural research centers and in multiple consultancy roles on international research activities. In 2001, Dr. Sammons was elected as a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy. He is the author of over 170 scientific articles and seven books and book chapters. His extensive international expertise traces to a formative experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines during the late 1960s.
The other two speakers, Dr. Vasudha Narayanan and Dr. Bernard Cook, will speak in March and April, respectively.
For more information, please contact Bill Reese at 352-395-5523 or bill.reese@sfcollege.edu.