By ANN HINCH
Assistant Editor

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Many are starting off the new year with hopeful plans for big goals during the next 12 months. At least one man, though, is kicking off 2011 with a big new job already in place.

On Saturday, Illinois native Dr. Joseph DiPietro took the reins to the University of Tennessee system as its 24th president. UT’s Board of Trustees narrowly elected him over Dr. Brian Noland in an 11-10 vote on Oct. 22, after a four-month recruitment and interview process.

“It was pretty clear they were a group of pretty good candidates,” said James Murphy III of the five people the Board of Trustees’ Search Committee trimmed down to be interviewed, from 71 applicants. “(DiPietro and Noland) both had pluses and not very many minuses.”

Murphy, a Nashville attorney and vice chair of the board, was one of the 11 voting for DiPietro, who joined the UT Institute of Agriculture as its vice president nearly five years ago (a title since changed to chancellor). He said DiPietro was head of UT Ag at a time when the school had difficult financial issues and Murphy felt he handled them well.

He also said DiPietro received high marks from his colleagues and had successfully managed academic programs at both the University of Illinois and University of Florida.

It was a difficult choice. Though DiPietro already had experience heading up a statewide department for UT, Murphy said Noland – as chancellor for the West Virginia Board of Education – had experience with helping supervise development of the state’s more than 800 elementary and secondary schools. DiPietro’s edge was his familiarity with UT.

“Part of the president’s job is (to make sure) that all these campuses are doing the best that they can,” Murphy explained.

DiPietro said he’s been in nearly all of Tennessee’s counties, has learned to love the state and UT, and has the talent and experience to be a successful president. He added he’s worked with legislators, the Farm Bureau, extension leaders and other campuses outside his home base of Knoxville (there are five across the state) – he doesn’t think he’s a stranger to the university or agricultural community.

During his first interview with board members, he pointed out that as the ag chancellor, he had a stake in their selection of president even if it wasn’t him and asked them to be “very, very thoughtful” in their choice.

“I care about this university whether I’m selected or I continue as chancellor,” he recalled telling them.

“I did a lot of soul searching before I said I was willing to take a stab at this search,” the veterinarian added, explaining though he’s also been in administration for most of his 34-year career, he’s taken those jobs as opportunities have come up – not as the end goal he envisioned when he first started teaching in 1978. “That’s not been Joe.”

In addition, he discussed it with his wife, Deb, who told him she wants to stay in the state. “That’s a real statement for her, because she always wanted to go back to Illinois,” he said, adding “someday” he’ll retire in Tennessee “and then play with my grandbabies and do some trout fishing.”
DiPietro started his career in 1976 as a vet in Peotone, Ill., after graduating from the University of Illinois in Urbana, then began teaching there in 1978. He earned a master’s in pathobiology in 1980, became a researcher and, eventually, associate dean of research for Illinois’ College of Veterinary Medicine.

In 1997, he was hired as dean of the University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine, until he came to UT Ag in February 2006.
He replaces Interim President Jan Simek, and UT Ag Vice Chancellor Buddy Mitchell will advance as the institute’s chief until DiPietro hires his own replacement, which may take several months. This is Mitchell’s third time in 13 years serving as the interim ag chancellor.

Goals in mind

DiPietro wants to see the Tennessee Biofuels Initiative through to completion. The partnership between the state and UT has so far produced a research refinery in Vonore, making cellulosic ethanol. He said the effort needs to eventually graduate to a commercial-sized facility.

The newly-created Center for Renewable Carbon (CRC), which combines UT’s offices of bioenergy and forest products, among others, is a related effort. He said its goal is to help develop products and energy from biobased materials, which have traditionally been made from petroleum.

In the same way plastics and other materials came from pumping petroleum for gasoline, he said there is a market for more byproducts of biofuel; in fact, DiPietro explained there is a group of people from UT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) interested in collaborating to find out how to get a biobased economy “off and running.”

UT-Knoxville and ORNL are also offering Ph.D. programs in energy science and engineering through the new Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education; under this, he said students do their doctorate work at ORNL to gain practical experience.

Having worked in extension and with livestock producers as well as in the classroom, DiPietro said all of UT’s departments need to connect with the public by finding ways to transfer academic knowledge to them. His toughest challenges as a researcher, he said, came from farmers who presented problems with their animals for which there were no immediate answers. His job was to figure out how to reach that solution, put together a project and funding to do so and transfer any solution to the farmer.

As a vet, an educator and an administrator, he’s also aware of states that have contended with animal-rights activists over livestock. So far Tennessee hasn’t been high-profile over this, but he said, “I’m not naïve; we’re a big animal-ag state.”

In fact, state legislators have been wrestling with how to handle horse abuse and neglect cases, since they are on the rise because of poor economic conditions (nationally, horses and cattle are among the state’s major livestock).
They’ve also put county extension agents in charge of determining probable cause in bringing charges for animal abuse cases, something DiPietro wants to change.

“Part of it happened because people trusted their extension agents, so that’s positive,” he said, explaining the state cannot afford to hire law enforcement just for animal cases. Still, he believes extension agents should not be police.