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Helene Dillard

Helene Dillard, director of Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE), will become dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at her graduate alma mater, the University of California, Davis, Jan. 27.

Dillard, a San Francisco-area native, has led CCE since 2002. She is professor of plant pathology and associate dean in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and associate dean of outreach and extension in the College of Human Ecology. She also is a faculty fellow at the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future. Dillard has been a member of Cornell’s faculty since 1984, when she joined the Department of Plant Pathology at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, N.Y.

CCE provides leadership to 52 extension associations that provide extension programming across the state, reaching nearly 3 million individuals in 2012. As CCE director, Dillard oversees 1,700 employees and an annual system budget of approximately $120 million. She has worked to enhance CCE’s visibility on campus and to strengthen ties with agricultural agencies and other groups that work regularly with CCE. She has been a champion of nutrition education, parent education and youth development programs offered through the extension system. Dillard also guided the creation of a new CCE strategic plan and rebranding effort, and has been recognized for her commitment to diversity.

Dillard’s research program focuses on the biology, ecology and management of a wide variety of fungal diseases in vegetable crops. Her major research projects have examined fungal diseases of beans, tomatoes, corn, as well as cabbage and other cruciferous vegetables.

Dillard received the 2013 College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Outstanding Faculty Award at Cornell and the 2013 New York Farmers Medal from the New York Farmers Association. In 2008, she was named a National Women of Color STEM All Star.

Dillard received her bachelor’s degree (1977) from the University of California, Berkeley, and her master’s in degree in soil science (1979) and Ph.D. in plant pathology (1984) from UC Davis.

The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Human Ecology are developing a plan to identify Dillard’s successor, and an announcement regarding that process will be forthcoming.