Brooks School Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Development Jeff Niederdeppe was recently appointed Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Named to honor the first dean of CALS, whose efforts to secure funding from New York State led to the establishment of the college, the first Liberty Hyde Bailey Professorship was established May 25, 1972. Niederdeppe’s appointment will last through his tenure at Cornell.

“It’s an honor for me to be recognized for my contributions to the Department of Communication in CALS,” said Niederdeppe. “Among many other contributions, Liberty Hyde Bailey was a prolific and elegant communicator who embodied the idea that research, teaching, and public engagement are essential roles of a professor. He also helped to establish a new college at Cornell. While I have a great deal left to accomplish at Cornell, I will continue to engage in purpose-driven social science and am proud of the role I have played in helping to establish the Brooks School as a multidisciplinary policy school that seeks to make the world a better place.”

Liberty Hyde Bailey Jr., through his research and teaching efforts, played a key role in elevating the study of horticulture to a science and devising a system for disseminating practical knowledge about agriculture to farmers. He first came to Cornell in 1888 as a professor of horticulture and served as dean from 1903 to 1913.

In addition to his senior leadership role at the Brooks School, Niederdeppe serves as Director of Cornell's Health Communication Research Initiative (HCRI) and Co-Director of the Cornell Center for Health Equity (CCHEq). His research examines the impact of media campaigns, strategic messages, and news coverage in shaping health behavior and social policy.

He has published more than 220 peer-reviewed articles in communication, public health, health policy, and medicine journals, and his work has been funded in recent years by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Niederdeppe’s most recent research examines the effectiveness of warning labels for adults and teenagers on tobacco vaping products. In his work as Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Development, was instrumental in the hiring of 13 new Brooks School faculty members in 2024.