The WSU College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences is proud to announce the newest group of leaders at Research and Extension Centers across the state, at Mount Vernon, Wenatchee, and Puyallup.
• Starting July 1, 2020, Carol Miles is the new interim director of Washington State University’s Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center (NWREC) at Mount Vernon.
A horticulturist who finds solutions for growing better vegetables, Miles has worked for 25 years at WSU.
“I like to say I have soil in my blood,” said Miles, whose father was a Dust Bowler, walking off the family farm in South Colorado at 6 years old “with a suitcase in one hand.”
Read more in the official news release.
• Chad Kruger, current director of WSU’s Northwestern Washington Research & Extension Center (NWREC) in Mount Vernon, the Puyallup Research & Extension Center, and the Center for Sustaining Agriculture & Natural Resources (CSANR), will become the next director of the Tree Fruit Research & Extension Center (TFREC) at Wenatchee, Wash.
This appointment will be a return to familiar territory for Kruger, who started at WSU in 2004: he worked for 11 years in Wenatchee as part of CSANR.
“Although I have generational family farming roots in both sides of the state, I’ve always considered myself an east-sider,” Kruger said.
Read more about Kruger’s role and mission at Wenatchee here.
• Todd Murray, entomologist and Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources Program director, will become the next director of the WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Center (Puyallup REC) on July 1.
A WSU alumnus bringing more than 20 years of service to counties across Washington state, Murray takes over from outgoing director Chad Kruger, who has led the center since 2017.
“I see great opportunities to lead a team that integrates watershed science, production agriculture, urban landscape management, and human health in ways that can transform Puget Sound, Washington state, and the world,” Murray said.
Read more about Murray’s WSU career and ambitions for Puyallup in the WSU news release.