Nick T. Place
Dean and Director of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Place began serving as Dean and Director of the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences in January 2021. He previously served as dean and director of the Florida
Cooperative Extension Service and a professor in the University of Florida Department
of Agricultural Education and Communication from 2012 through 2020. As dean and director
of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension,
he oversaw faculty located in each of Florida’s counties, 13 research and education
centers, 15 academic departments and the School of Forest Resources and Conservation.
Before his appointment with the Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Place served
as associate dean and associate director of University of Maryland Extension, supporting
faculty in the Colleges of Chemical and Life Sciences, Health and Human Performance,
and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences.
Place’s research and scholarship focuses on teaching and learning along with domestic
and international extension services and their role in youth, community and economic
development. His work has been supported by $1.7 million in grants and contracts from
agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and
Agriculture and the National Security Education Program. He is the author or co-author
of more than 30 peer-reviewed publications as well as a book, several book chapters
and numerous extension publications. He was selected by the USDA to work in Poland
for six months to assist the Polish Ministry of Agriculture in restructuring and reorienting
its agricultural extension system.
Place started his career in extension as a multi-county agent in Pennsylvania, where
he spent 12 years conducting educational programs in dairy, livestock, 4-H youth development,
and community development. He earned his bachelor’s degree in dairy husbandry at Delaware
Valley College in Pennsylvania, his master’s degree in dairy and animal science at
Penn State University, and his doctorate in agricultural and extension education at
Penn State University.
