Dr. Rosa Guedes is WVU Parkersburg’s new diversified agriculture program coordinator. The new program will begin in the spring of 2013. However, Guedes began developing curriculum for the program in August.
The new program is intended to train students in skills to meet the demand for locally grown food. The produce grown in the program will be used to help support WVU Parkersburg’s new culinary arts program. The college justified the area’s need for an agriculture need, stating that 90 percent of the food consumed in West Virginia is raised out of state.
“We welcome Dr. Guedes to the college to launch our new diversified agriculture program,” said Dr. Rhonda Tracy, WVU Parkersburg senior vice president for academic affairs. “She has the enthusiasm and experience to ensure that our students are successful and that our new program has a positive impact on our community.”
Before coming to the U.S., Guedes was an associate professor of ecology at Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE) in Brazil where she taught agronomy and agriculture education. Earning her Ph. D., from the University of Georgia (UGA) enabled Guedes to teach a variety of courses from environmental science to advanced courses in a botany graduate program.
At UGA, Guedes and her colleagues organized the first Study Abroad in Agriculture and Ecology program in Brazil. She also participated in a grant that supported a student exchange program with UGA, Iowa State University and UFRPE.
Most recently, Guedes worked for Philadelphia University where she began in 2005. While there, she was awarded a Linback Minority Junior Faculty Career Enhancement grant, which was used to work with small-scale farmers. Guedes presented her results at the International Union of Soil Scientist meeting in Brisbane, Australia.
