Grant Cardon Named Interim Dean of Newly Combined College

LOGAN, Utah — Utah State University has announced that Grant Cardon, professor in the Department of Plants, Soils and Climate, has been named as the interim dean of the newly merged College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences and Quinney College of Natural Resources.

The merger of the S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources and the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences was announced by USU Interim President Alan L. Smith last month. Cardon will work closely with university leadership, including Provost and Executive Vice President Laurens (Larry) H. Smith, QCNR Dean Linda Nagel and CAAS Interim Dean Greg Cuomo, as this transition occurs.

“We could not be more pleased that Dr. Cardon has accepted this leadership role,” Larry Smith said. “As faculty senate president, Grant earned the trust and respect of USU's faculty across the institution and all disciplines. In addition, throughout his career in the Department of Plants, Soils and Climate in CAAS, he has regularly collaborated with faculty in both QCNR and CAAS and values the synergistic relationships between them. Given the many changes happening with higher education in the state and nationally, I am confident Grant will provide the necessary stability and strong guidance to help the new college find its footing and launch successfully.”

In addition to his role as professor in CAAS, Cardon is an Extension soils specialist and a former president of the USU Faculty Senate. He oversees the USU Soil Testing Lab, teaches courses on campus and serves across the state as the Extension specialist in all things dirt. Cardon earned his doctorate degree in soil physics from UC Riverside in 1990 and his bachelor’s in agronomy and soil science from USU in 1986. He joined the USU faculty in 2005 after 12 years at Colorado State University. 

“Being both an alumnus and now a professor at Utah State, I have seen our university grow through many changes,” Cardon said. “My own department has gone through three different iterations since I graduated in 1986, each time working through challenges to rise and thrive. I absolutely agree with Interim President Smith when he said this new college will align USU with other thriving land-grant institutions and will help us meet the evolving needs of our students and Utah. As my background suggests, I love dirt, and working from the ground up is what I do. Helping this combined college spring up, grow together, and meet the academic and research needs of the future is exciting.”

University officials will work in earnest creating the administration structure of the college. A national search for the college’s dean will be launched at the start of the new academic year.

Utah State University is a premier land- and space-grant institution committed to excellence, access, and inclusion. Since its founding in 1888, USU has evolved from a small agricultural college tucked away in the Northern Utah mountains to a thriving, R1 research university with locations serving the entire state of Utah and known throughout the world for its intellectual and technological leadership.