Dr. José Ulises Toledo has been named West Virginia State University’s (WVSU) Vice President for Research and Public Service, and Dean and Director of the WVSU Gus R. Douglass Land-Grant Institute. In this role, Toledo will provide administrative oversight to the WVSU Agricultural and Environmental Research Station, WVSU Extension Service, and the Center for the Advancement of STEM, as well as oversee all University research and public service related initiatives.
“In keeping with WVSU’s tradition as an 1890 Land-Grant University, in this new role as Vice President for Research and Public Service, my priority is to furthering the University’s mission by continuing to strengthen basic and applied research and promote and grow innovative translational research in food, agriculture, natural resources, and environmental and social sciences,” Toledo said. “Concurrently with advancing research initiatives, it is equally important to continue reinvigorating the University’s public service, outreach and extension initiatives to ensure programming is highly responsive to the economic and social needs of our communities and the clientele served.”
Arriving at WVSU in April 2000, Toledo brings 20 years of institutional service to this new role, including having served in a variety of capacities within the University’s Research and Public Service administrative area. His previous positions include Associate Vice President for Administration, Associate Vice President for Research, and Associate Dean for the WVSU Douglass Land-Grant Institute.
Toledo received a Bachelor of Science in Agronomy and Food Engineering from Universidad Autónoma Chapingo in México, a Master of Science in Plant Biotechnology and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and earned a Ph.D. in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences with a minor in Business Administration in Strategic Business Management while at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.
Toledo has been recently reappointed by Governor Jim Justice to the West Virginia Science and Research Council until June 2024. He currently serves as the institutional representative for Research and International Programs to the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) and as the WVSU representative to the statewide National Science Foundation’s EPSCoR, as he has done for the last 15 years. He also holds memberships in the National Council of University Research Administrators; National Association of Colleges and Universities Business Officers; Association of Extension Administrators; Association of 1890 Research Directors; Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences; International and American Society for Horticultural Sciences; and Biotechnology Industry Organization.
Toledo has been continuously engaged with professional research and scholarly publications in the areas of Bioengineering, Plant Biotechnology, Technology Transfer, and Economics and Business Administration.
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