University of Kentucky

Nancy Cox, PhD, has accepted the position of dean of the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment. The college includes the Department of Veterinary Science and the Gluck Equine Research Center. She begins the position Jan. 1.

Dr. Cox received her master’s in animal physiology from the University of Georgia in 1977 and her doctorate from North Carolina State University in 1982. From 1982-1996, she was a researcher in the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences at Mississippi State University. From 1997-2001, she was assistant or associate director of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. There, she led efforts to establish two university-wide centers, the Remote Sensing Technologies Center and the Life Sciences and Biotechnology Institute.

In 2001, she joined UK as associate dean of research in the agriculture college. Her duties included oversight of the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station’s state and federal budgets, and she represented the college in a partnership with a newly established federal laboratory, the Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service Forage-Animal Production Research Unit.

Dr. Cox represents the college on most Kentucky agricultural commodity boards and was the founding administrator of UK’s Ag Equine Programs. On the national level, she has served on the American Society of Animal Science and the USDA National Advisory Board for Research.

Dr. Cox replaces Scott Smith, PhD, who has led the college since 2001. He plans to return to the faculty, where he has been a member 35 years. During his tenure as dean, Dr. Smith led the college in confronting pivotal issues such as mare reproductive loss syndrome.