The Texas Tech University System Board of Regents approved the academic advancement of seven outstanding Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources faculty members during their latest meeting (Feb. 27).
'These faculty are leading the way toward Davis College reaching 'Prime' through trans-disciplinary research that has important impacts for West Texas and beyond, as well as building the next generation of leaders.'
“We are incredibly proud of our exceptional faculty receiving promotion and tenure this year. Each of them has excelled in their respective areas and are representative of the outstanding teaching, research, and outreach and engagement culture of Davis College,” said Darren Hudson, Davis College Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives & Assessment and the Larry Combest Endowed Chair for Agricultural Competitiveness in the Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics.
“These faculty are leading the way toward Davis College reaching "Prime" through trans-disciplinary research that has important impacts for West Texas and beyond, as well as building the next generation of leaders through their teaching and learning programs,” he said.
Among those receiving a promotion in academic rank with tenure (effective Sept. 1) are:
Amy Boren-Alpízar | Department of Agricultural Education & Communications | Associate Professor to Full Professor. Her research focuses on the contributions of rural youth and women to community development in Latin America. She joined the department in 2014 following leadership and teaching roles in Latin American-focused development and education. Her prior positions include work with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture and serving as executive director of El Centro de las Américas. Honors include 2025 Fulbright U.S. Scholar to Peru. Her doctorate is from the University of Nebraska.
Modhurima Dey Amin | Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics | Assistant Professor to Associate Professor with tenure. She specializes in applied econometrics, statistics, and data science. Her research program broadly focuses on food and agricultural markets, precision agriculture, energy, and industrial organization. Amin’s research investigates food safety in retail outlets, and the access to healthful food in the United States, especially for disadvantaged communities, and the market dynamics of specialty crops, primarily exclusive and open apple varieties. Her doctorate is from Washington State.
Cade Coldren | Department of Natural Resources Management | Assistant Professor to Associate Professor with tenure. His research is centered around conservation issues, whether it is avian conservation, urban wildlife, or water resources. His current research focus is on avian and urban wildlife, primarily looking at invasive species impacts, as well as evaluating long-term population impacts from factors such as climate change. Much of his work in the last two decades has focused on the use of the Ecological Dynamics Simulation model. His doctorate is from Texas A&M.
Jason Headrick | Department of Agricultural Education & Communications | Assistant Professor to Associate Professor with tenure. The Kentucky native’s academic work focuses on the intersections of rural development, civic leadership, and leadership education theory, which he teaches at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Honors include the Association of Leadership Educators’ Early Career Leadership & Service Award and the Outstanding Program Non-Credit Award and was named a 2024 E. Kika De La Garza Education Fellow. His doctorate is from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Yinping Jiao | Department of Plant & Soil Science - Institute of Genomics for Crop Abiotic Stress Tolerance | Assistant Professor to Associate Professor with tenure. An expert in plant genomics and genetics, her research centers on obtaining a deeper understanding of the genetic diversity and regulatory mechanism of important agronomic traits in crops, with the goal of facilitating breeding. One of her primary goals at Tech is to identify key loci contributing to the high abiotic stress tolerance in sorghum. Her doctorate in plant genetics and breeding is from China Agricultural University in Beijing, China.
Donna Mitchell McCallister | Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics | Assistant Professor to Associate Professor with tenure. The Lamesa, Texas native’s research program broadly focuses on contributing toward the development of multidisciplinary methods to maintain the profitability of agricultural production and economic viability of rural communities in the Southern High Plains. Her agribusiness research interests include contract design for risk-sharing in sustainable systems and grower/retailer partnerships to create reliable, consistent supply chains. Her doctorate is from Texas Tech.
Separately, Davis College officials noted that at Board of Regents’ meeting Davis College’s Rupinder Saini received a continuing appointment with promotion to associate professor within the Department of Plant & Soil Science. Her research is centered on the development of integrated strategies for weed management in specialty crops: vegetable, ornamental, turf and grape production). The management of weeds in most of these crops is complicated by the limited number of herbicide options, as well as carryover concerns. One of her research goals is to improve horticultural crop performance by minimizing the impact of weed populations. Her doctorate is from The University of Adelaide in Australia.
In other action, university leaders recognized emeritus Davis College faculty members John McGlone, a professor in the Department of Animal & Food Sciences, and Rudy Ritz, an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural Education & Communications.
CONTACT: Clint Krehbiel, Dean, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2808 or Clint.Krehbiel@ttu.edu
0306NM26 | PHOTO: (top row) Amy Boren-Alpízar, Modhurima Dey Amin and Cade Coldren (bottom row) Jason Headrick, Yinping Jiao and Donna Mitchell McCallister