Two outstanding Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources professors - Kerry Griffis-Kyle and Conrad Lyford - were part of Texas Tech’s Institute for Faculty Excellence 2024-2025 graduating cohort. Recognition of the 23 participants from across campus was held at a special ceremony on Wednesday (May 7) at the main library.
“The Institute for Faculty Excellence promotes faculty excellence, leadership, and well-being, and it’s significant and meaningful to have two Davis College faculty recognized during this year’s cohort graduation,” said Robert Cox, Davis College Associate Dean for Academic and Student Programs. “Dr. Griffis-Kyle’s and Dr. Lyford’s efforts with this group have been outstanding. Davis College is fortunate to have them as faculty members.”
According to program officials, the institute is a partnership between Tech’s Office of Faculty Success in the Office of the Provost and the university’s Teaching, Learning & Professional Development Center. Its core mission centers on fostering ongoing career and leadership development. Among the group’s areas of interest are effective teaching, research/creative activity, service/leadership, positive impact, continuous development and ethics/integrity.
As part of participation in the Institute for Faculty Excellence program, both professors attended a mix of five required workshops, and completed a project; what program officials termed as a deliverable.
Kerry Griffis-Kyle | Professor |Department of Natural Resources Management
- Deliverable: Transitions: Mentoring Students to Support Core Academic Continuity. The product was a resource that will enhance departmental resilience in teaching to vacant faculty lines and a growing student enrollment, while maintaining quality educational experiences for students. She produced a mentoring plan, curriculum, and resources for developing pedagogical skills in teaching assistants and instructors who have already completed basic teaching assistant training or the equivalent. “Being part of the IFE was a transformative experience for me. I not only learned more effective communication skills — but I also gained a network of mentors, colleagues, and friends. This experience has helped me grow as a leader and given me the tools to navigate professional challenges with more confidence and clarity,” Griffis-Kyle said.
- A noted wildlife ecologist, Griffis-Kyle joined the Texas Tech faculty in 2008. Her research program broadly addresses questions related to biodiversity and conservation, especially related to water resources for wildlife. Much of her laboratory’s work is focused on evaluating how anthropogenic stressors, including climate change, are affecting wetlands, wetland dependent species, and other sensitive natural resources. She has been invited to give workshops on designing mitigation strategies in North, Central and South America. She earned her doctorate in biology is from Syracuse University.
Conrad Lyford | Professor |Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics
- Deliverable: Vaping vs. Smoking: Analyzing the Links to Arthritis and Overall Health Using Machine Learning. His study uses machine learning to examine the association between vaping and two health outcomes: arthritis and poor health status. It also compares these results with the association between smoking and health outcomes. Methods Data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is used, and the Double Machine Learning (DML) technique is employed to examine the associated treatment effects of vaping and smoking on arthritis and bad health. Lyford’s study found that regarding overall bad health status, vaping is associated with a higher rate (3.74 percent) compared to smoking (2.71 percent). The result suggests that vaping is less healthy than smoking which may be due to the lack of awareness of the health implications of vaping and subsequent overuse.
- Lyford, who joined the Davis College faculty in 2001, focuses on developing solutions in the often-interrelated fields of agribusiness, health and development. He has worked on several topics including behavioral economics, quality, health, development and marketing. In Africa, he has been more focused on agribusiness, value chain and nutrition access issues. He received a Fulbright Award to Ghana (2022). His doctorate in agricultural economics is from Michigan State University.
CONTACT: Clint Krehbiel, Dean, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2808 or Clint.Krehbiel@ttu.edu
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