QANR appoints first official dean
Editor’s Note: This article was updated on April 6 to reflect accurate correspondence with Derek McLean and Amanda DeRito. The Utah Statesman remains committed to transparent and ethical reporting.
Derek McLean has been appointed as the first permanent dean of the Utah State University S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Agriculture & Natural Resources following a nationwide search.
McLean, who currently serves as dean of the Agricultural Research Division at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, starts July 1. He succeeds interim dean Grant Cardon, who has led the college since its formation in July 2025. McLean’s background includes a senior science adviser position at the National Institutes of Health, where he coordinated research funding and policy across more than 20 institutes, as well as senior director of collaborative research for Phibro Animal Health Corporation and a decade as a faculty member at Washington State University. He currently holds a doctorate in animal sciences from Oregon State University.
The Utah Statesman reached out to McLean for comment via phone and email, but was directed to university spokesperson Amanda DeRito.
“The future dean won’t be available to talk to the media about USU until he begins on July 1,” said Amanda DeRito.
“Dr. McLean brings a remarkable record of strategic leadership across higher education, federal agencies and industry,” said Larry Smith, USU provost, in the university announcement about the new dean. “Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a deep commitment to student and faculty success, research excellence and the public good.”
Cardon, a soil scientist who has been on the USU faculty for 21 years, said he came into the interim role without a plan for how the new college should be structured.
“My approach was, ‘Don’t come into it with any kind of preconceived notion,’” Cardon said. “Let’s go through and start doing some grassroots surveys of the faculty and the staff — spend a lot of time talking and gathering input.”
Smith mentioned Cardon was deliberately chosen for the role because of his deep familiarity with both former colleges.
“He wasn’t just a placeholder — he was a builder,” Smith said. “He understands the faculty perspective, the research engine and the classroom experience equally well.”
The college spent six months gathering faculty and staff input before making any decisions about structure.
“Most of the professors realize … the potential synergies there,” Cardon said. “All through my career, soil is under everything, whether it be an agricultural field or forest.”
McLean was selected for his vast network of experience and commitment to students and faculty, according to Smith.
Not all students were following the leadership change. Gwen Bassett, a senior majoring in environmental science and sustainability, said they had heard about the appointment but didn’t know many details.
“I had some idea that a new dean had been appointed for the college just because of the merger, but I hadn’t heard much about it, and I don’t know who it is, exactly,” Bassett said.
Bassett said they hope McLean prioritizes listening to students above all else.
“I would really like to see a smooth transition as we merge these two very different colleges,” Bassett said.
They added that they want to see advocacy for the natural resources side of the college.
“I would really like to see some responsibility and accountability because we’ve had a history in the past of administration in our school not showing that,” Bassett said.
Bassett also expressed concern about preserving the distinct identities of both colleges.
“Agriculture and natural resources often have different values and really are different colleges in many ways,” Bassett said. “I think it’s important for us to find the in-between but also to keep the integral pieces of that.”
The primary challenge facing McLean, according to Cardon, is the untangling of financial accounts combined when the college, the USU Extension service and the Agriculture Experiment Station were previously managed under a single leader.
“Just the accounting for our financial resources and having a full separation of those from Extension — that has been the most difficult thing,” Cardon said.
Cardon looks forward to seeing McLean move past the structural work and focus on vision for the college going forward.
“The new dean will come in with an opportunity — with settled structure — to really start visioning, which is really what you want a dean to do,” Cardon said.
Cardon, who applied for the permanent position but was not selected as a finalist, explained he plans to return to teaching three courses next fall and resume his USU Extension work across the state.
“Teaching is the icing on my cake,” Cardon said. “What good is developing all this knowledge if you’re not communicating it?”
The merger brought together the S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources and the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences, along with the geosciences department, into a single unit in response to House Bill 265, the Higher Education Strategic Reinvestment Act.
“In the West, you cannot separate agricultural productivity from the health of the surrounding ecosystem,” Smith said.
For more on the merger, see the Statesman’s previous coverage at usustatesman.com.