The current Associate Dean for Academic and Student Programs for Texas Tech’s College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources has been selected as the academic unit’s Interim Dean. Cindy Akers, a long-time professor and noted agricultural educator, will be installed in her new post effective June 1. 

At CASNR the interim dean has a broad portfolio overseeing academic and budget administration for the college, with direct reports including the chairs of each of CASNR’s seven departments that enroll about 2,800 students and have more than 108 faculty members. 

“Dr. Akers brings many years of experience to this role through her service as Associate Dean for Academic and Student Programs in the college, as well as her service as Acting Dean since late November 2020,” said Michael Galyean, Texas Tech Provost and Sr. Vice President of Academic Affairs. “I’m confident that with her capable leadership, the college will continue to prosper.”

Akers, who also serves as a professor in Tech’s Department of Agricultural Education and Communications, has received numerous educational honors. She was named president of the Non-land-grant Agriculture and Renewable Resources Universities (2019). NARRU’s mission lies in being a unifying force for faculty, students, staff, and administrators of agriculture, food, and renewable resource programs at NARRU state-funded public colleges and universities. 

“I am excited by CASNR’s potential to push forward in new directions,” Akers said. “This is an opportunity to work with the Texas Tech administration and the entire CASNR community to advance our education and research, and continue enriching the college’s welcoming, hands-on culture.”

She was named a Fellow in the American Association for Agricultural Education (AAAE) in 2017. In addition, she’s the past president of the AAAE-Western Region, and has served as chair of Texas Tech's Teaching Academy, a group of some 200 members from throughout the university supporting, promoting and recognizing teaching excellence.

Akers, who joined the Texas Tech faculty in 1997, received the AAAE-Western Region Distinguished Teaching Award (2011), Texas Tech's Departmental Excellence in Teaching Award (2005), Texas Tech president's Excellence in Teaching Award (2005), Texas Tech Parents Association's Hemphill-Wells New Professor of Excellence in Teaching Award (2004), and the Texas Tech Alumni Association Outstanding New Faculty Award (2004).

Akers has other daily duties within CASNR. Since 2008, she has served as CASNR's Director of the Bill Bennett Student Success Center, a student-centered model that is charged with recruiting and retaining the best students for the college. The center is named for long-time member of the Department of Plant and Soil Science's emeritus faculty member Bill Bennett. Bennett joined the Texas Tech faculty in 1968, and was a trailblazer in raising money for scholarships to increase recruitment of students, in addition to spearheading creation of the college's Ambassadors for Agriculture and Agri-Techsans programs.

A native of Estancia, New Mexico, Akers earned her bachelor's degree in agricultural communications, her master's degree in agricultural education and her doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Texas Tech.

CONTACT: Cindy Akers, Interim Dean and Associate Dean for Academic & Student Programs, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2808 or cindy.akers@ttu.edu

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