Max J. Pfeffer, professor of rural sociology at Cornell University, has been named associate director of the university's Agricultural Experiment Station in Ithaca. His appointment became effective Feb. 16.

Pfeffer will work with Daniel J. Decker, director of the experiment station, and colleagues in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), the College of Human Ecology and the College of Veterinary Medicine, in supervising research. This research includes agriculture and food systems, rural community and economic development, and natural resources and the environment. Also, Pfeffer will work closely with leadership of Cornell Cooperative Extension, where a prime responsibility will include the development of applied research as it pertains to the university's land-grant mission.

"Max is well-respected and will be an asset to our leadership team as we move forward with environmental program development and continue to better focus our social science expertise on key issues facing New York, the region and beyond," says Susan A. Henry, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of CALS.

Decker says of Pfeffer, "Max is intellectually engaged in the challenges that face the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell Cooperative Extension and the experiment station in fulfilling our land-grant responsibilities. He brings a pragmatic approach to his work. The combination of these traits is what we need in leadership to strengthen Cornell's land-grant impact for New York citizens."

Pfeffer's expertise is in environmental management, with a special emphasis on watersheds and protected areas, and rural labor markets. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Social Science Research Council and the Aspen Institute. His research in New York includes studies of volunteerism in local watershed protection in the Susquehanna River Basin and immigrant integration in rural communities. His current international work includes local responses to protected-area creation in Central America and interdisciplinary research on poverty and environmental degradation in Kenya.

Pfeffer joined Cornell in 1993 as an assistant professor in the Department of Rural Sociology. He became an associate professor in 1996 and professor in 2002. He earned his bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Colorado-Boulder in 1976 and his master's (1979) and doctoral degrees (1986) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After completing a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Wisconsin, he was a member of the faculty at Rutgers University for five years. He is a member of the American Sociological Association, the Rural Sociological Society, the Eastern Sociological Society and the American Water Resources Association.