Thayne Montague, Associate Professor to Full Professor, Department of Plant & Soil Science. An expert in horticulture, Montague has a joint appointment with Texas AgriLife Research and serves as the department's associate chair of undergraduate programs. His research broadly focuses on physiology, plant/microclimate interactions, and drought tolerance of woody ornamental plants, grapevines, and other fruit crops. Montague joined the Davis College faculty in 1999. A member of the American Society of Horticultural Science, his doctorate in plant sciences is from Utah State University.

Wenxuan Guo, Assistant Professor to Associate Professor with Tenure, Department of Plant & Soil Science. An expert in crop ecophysiology and precision agriculture, Guo's research focuses on environmental sciences, remote sensing in agriculture, especially unmanned aerial vehicle (UVA) application in precision plant phenotyping. Prior to joining the Davis College faculty in 2016, Guo worked as a global environmental modeling scientist with Monsanto in St. Louis. He received Monsanto's Breeding Excellence Award (2016). His doctorate in agronomy is from Texas Tech.

Nathan Hall, Assistant Professor to Associate Professor with Tenure, Department of Animal & Food Sciences. An expert in companion animal science, Hall serves as director of Tech's Canine Olfaction Research & Education Laboratory. He broadly studies dogs' sense of smell, and explores the capabilities of the dog's nose and how training influences olfactory perception. Hall joined the Davis College faculty in 2016. Honors include the Gerber Behavior Analysis Research Award (2015). His doctorate is from the University of Florida, and he was a post-doctoral scholar at Arizona State.

Jamie Bologna Pavlik, Assistant Professor to Associate Professor with Tenure, Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics. Pavlik also serves as a research fellow with Texas Tech's Free Market Institute. Her research broadly falls within the fields of economic growth and development, with a particular emphasis on the role of institutions. Her narrower focus is on the role of corruption within institutions. She joined the Davis College faculty in 2016. A member of the American Economic Association, her doctorate in economics is from West Virginia University.

Lindsey Slaughter, Assistant Professor to Associate Professor with Tenure, Department of Plant & Soil Science. An expert in soil microbial ecology and biochemistry, Slaughter's research broadly focuses on how soil microbial community structure, function, and interactions with other biota affect and are affected by environmental disturbance, such as water and nutrient scarcity or urban development and runoff. Slaughter joined the Davis College faculty in 2016. A member of the American Society of Agronomy, her doctorate in soil science is from the University of Kentucky.

In other action, Texas Tech's Board of Regents approved a continuing appointment of a non-tenure position for Alejandro Echeverry, an associate professor of practice in Tech's Department of Animal & Food Sciences. A member of the Institute for Thermal Processing Specialists, he received his doctorate in in animal science with an emphasis in food microbiology from Texas Tech. He joined the Davis College faculty as a research assistant professor in 2010.

Separately, the regents approved tenure for Marcos Sanchez-Plata, an associate professor in Tech's Department of Animal & Food Sciences. An expert in global food security, his research focuses on in-plant validation of antimicrobial interventions and risk assessment/performance evaluation of integrated food safety management systems from farm-to-table. Sanchez-Plata joined the Davis College faculty in 2014. His doctorate is from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.