Thomas Payne

Title: Vice chancellor and dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources

Background: Payne has been at MU since 1999. Prior to that, he served as associate vice president of agricultural administration at The Ohio State University and director of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. He has also held positions at Virginia Tech and Texas A&M. Born in Bakersfield, Calif., Payne earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in entomology from the University of California-Riverside, and his bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of California-Santa Barbara. His research interest focuses on effects of the electrophysiology of pheromone reception in the southern pine beetle and related bark beetles.

Education: PhD, entomology, University of California-Riverside, 1969

Speaking Topic: Agriculture in the 21st century; and life sciences