Having watched from the periphery as Clemson established himself as an exceptional land grant institution on the national scene, Todd Petty says the opportunity to take his Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation (FEC) to the next level – that of a world-class university research – it was one he couldn’t pass up.
Todd Petty
“I was ready to return to my discipline, and forestry and environmental preservation are in my wheelhouse,” said Petty. “This is what made this job attractive to me: it was a department that had professors and subjects that I know and know well.”
Petty was hired as the new head of the FEC department after serving for the past five years as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at West Virginia University, where he worked with division directors and faculty program coordinators to coordinate all academic undergraduate and graduate programs. post-graduation at its Faculty of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design.
FEC is part of the Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences (CAFLS) in Clemson and offers unified education, research and public service programs in forestry, wildlife conservation and ecology, offering excellence in instruction, scientific research and dissemination to South Carolina citizens, the nation and the world.
“I am delighted that Dr. Petty has chosen to join the CAFLS family as President of FEC,” said CAFLS Rector Keith Belli. “He brings extensive experience from his former position at West Virginia University, both as a productive professor and as an administrator. I am very excited about the future of FEC under Todd’s leadership. “
After obtaining his master’s and doctorate. from the Warnell School of Forest Resources at the University of Georgia, Petty’s distinguished 21-year career at WVU included numerous teaching and leadership positions, including serving as director of the National Council for Science and Environment, EnvironMentors, WVU Chapter and director of Peace International Corps Masters Program in Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry.
Regarding his reasons for moving to Clemson, Petty highlighted his passion for research and said that Clemson’s facilities – so to speak – are unmatched in this regard.
“Clemson Experimental Forest is unmatched – I mean, it simply is – in terms of space,” said Petty. “It is really a remarkable thing. Our competitors have scattered forests, but they don’t have a forest like that next to the campus. “
Clemson Experimental Forest has 17,500 acres dedicated to the conservation of natural resources, education, research and land granting mission at Clemson University just a few kilometers from the university campus.
In addition, Clemson owns the Belle W. Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science in Georgetown, SC, an area of 16,000 acres of undeveloped land along Waccamaw Neck that provides Clemson with unique research opportunities in a coastal wetland environment of high salinity estuary, brackish water and freshwater swamps.
“All of our competitors also have field stations like Baruch, but Baruch is exceptional among his peers in terms of systems and faculty,” said Petty.
Petty also pointed to ClemsonFORWARD, a 10-year strategic plan based on Clemson’s historic strengths, but with a solid focus on the future and the challenges that South Carolina, the nation and the world face in the 21st century, as a factor.
“As an outside observer, I believe the strategic plan is highly attractive because Clemson has spent a few years building its profile as an exceptional national land granting institution and is in transition to become a world-class research institution,” said Petty . “I love teaching and I love students and everything around them, but research is my passion. So, I was excited to come to a department of my discipline at a fantastic university that is preparing to go through a research intensification mode – and I believed that my skill set was right for that, that I could come in and help the department to do this next step in terms of its profile as a research institution, because it did the hard work of building a profile as a teaching institution ”.
Petty said he was reluctant to bring a fully formed view of how the department should be the new position, as he felt that this view should incorporate the views and opinions of those who worked to make it what it is today.
“The department belongs to the faculty, students and alumni, and I am privileged to essentially help this group achieve its vision,” he said. “So, this vision is shared. But after six weeks of listening, thinking and matching my own views, the word that stands out is ‘to lead’. My vision for Forests and Environmental Conservation is to be a leader in exceptional teaching, research and outreach – and that means leading both on campus and among our similar institutions. “
Petty also noted that a significant part of that leadership is in the area of diversity and inclusion in a field that has a history of low diversity.
“It is my view that our department will lead this conversation and this action,” said Petty.
Petty and his wife for 28 years, Tricia, assistant dean of West Virginia University, have two children: Jeffery, 21, who has just started her senior year at WVU as a bachelor of biochemistry, and Charlie, 17, who is a senior in the high school school.