David Lawver, a noted agricultural educator and Fulbright Grant award winner, has been named the safety coordinator for Texas Tech's College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. He officially stepped into his new post on Feb. 1.

College officials said Lawver will work with cross-disciplinary teams within CASNR to ensure safety including addressing chemical, biological, and occupational safety concerns. In addition, he will have oversight of safety training for all departments within the college; coordination of chemical inventory and tracking for the college; and will perform safety assessments of CASNR laboratories.

Separately, Lawver will perform an assessment of safety equipment needs within the college, as well as coordinate with Texas Tech's Environmental Health and Safety Department to ensure CASNR meets and exceeds safety standards. His safety coordinator duties will constitute only a portion of Lawver's time with the remainder spent conducting his normal duties as a professor in Tech's Department of Agricultural Education and Communications.

Lawver joined the Tech faculty in 1989, rising through the academic ranks to become a professor in 2000. Prior to coming to the Texas South Plains, he served as an assistant professor in agricultural education at Texas A&I University. He also worked as an agricultural science teacher in the Missouri communities of Higginsville, Bronaugh and Granby.

A native of Carl Junction, Mo., Lawver earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in agricultural education and vocational technical education from the University of Missouri. His doctorate in agricultural and extension education is from Mississippi State University.

He has received numerous awards including the 'Outstanding Young Member Award and the Distinguished Research Award' from the American Association for Agricultural Education. He is Past President and Senior Fellow of the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education. Additionally, he has served in leadership positions on the board of directors and as a trustee for the National FFA Organization. He also served on the managing editing board of the Journal of Agricultural Education.

In 2009, Lawver received a Fulbright Grant from the Council for International Exchange of Scholars. As part of that effort he taught extension methods at Egerton University near the east African provincial capital of Nakuru, Kenya. His project was titled "Extension Education in Kenya: Farmer Field Schools as an Alternative Approach."

Written by Norman Martin

CONTACT: Michael Galyean, Dean, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2808 or michael.galyean@ttu.edu

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