July 18, 2003
Things are Cook(ing) at WSU's College of Ag and Home Economics

Capital Press, by Scott A. Yates, Staff Writer

SPOKANE—Jim Zuiches, dean of the College of Agriculture and Home Economics at Washington State University since 1995, has been reassigned.

Jim Cook, who holds the Cook Endowed Chair in Cropping Systems at the college, has been named to replace Zuiches on an interim basis expected to last as long as two years.

The decision on Zuiches' future and Cook's elevation came out of the provost's office. Robert Bates said there was no single item that led to Zuiches' reassignment and in fact he praised him for doing a great job across many fronts and many constituencies.

"I just want to say I have a great appreciation for what Jim accomplished. Being dean of a college of agriculture is one of the most difficult administrative posts in any university that has agriculture as part of its program. He accomplished a lot and we greatly appreciate that," he said.

Bates said it was simply time for a change. The search for a permanent replacement, which is expected to gear up in the fall, will concentrate on finding an individual with the vision to position the college for the next 20 to 30 years.

Although Bates said they played no deliberate part in the reassignment, conversations with various commodity commissions and others indicate Zuiches had lost the confidence of his agricultural constituency. Communication, or the lack thereof, was cited by several as their major complaint.

Part of the problem, one person said, went to the state's strength as an agricultural powerhouse with hundreds of commodities and at least dozens of opinions.

"Zuiches couldn't get the trust level up, with so many conflicting commodity groups in the state," said a university official.

It is unclear how long the change has been brewing, but the news clearly took the agricultural community by surprise. Zuiches, who spoke at the Spillman Farm Field Day on July 10, gave no indication of any change. Sources said a meeting July 11 sealed his fate.

Zuiches, 60, announced he will take a six-month professional development leave and return to the university after that as a faculty member working on public policy issues. His training is in rural sociology.

Asked about the reassignment, he said deans serve at the pleasure of the president and the provost, "and sometimes you finish your work and accomplish what you accomplish and it's time for new leadership."

The appointment of Cook to fill the deanship is seen as a plus for traditional agriculture as well as the biotechnology movement. The 66-year-old, who is a member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, has made no secret of his belief that biotechnology will serve agriculture well in the future.

His view of the science dovetails with WSU's top executives. President Lane Rawlins and Bates are encouraging an effort to build a biotech complex of six buildings on campus and make the university a leader in the science on the West Coast.

Any new initiatives, however, will have to face the same budgetary restrictions Zuiches faced almost every year of his eight-year tenure as dean. These constant budget reductions took a toll on Zuiches' relationship with commodity organizations.

"It's easier to be a beloved leader if you are always able to deliver good things. It's harder when you are constantly having budget cuts and having to withdraw things," said an observer.

One constituency that felt Zuiches had successfully fulfilled his commitments was the Washington Sustainable Food & Farming Network. What started out as a confrontational relationship changed in the past two years, said Bonnie Rice, the group's director.

"I felt we gained a voice within the college for sustainable and organic agriculture and small farms that wasn't there a few years ago," she said, adding that she hopes the interest will continue under Cook.

Others organic leaders view the change in leadership with alarm. Chrys Ostrander, an organic farmer, said Cook's appointment was a giant step backward for WSU and called on the organic and sustainable ag community to "stand up and say a huge collective 'No' to WSU's wholesale enrapture with biotech."

Other commodity groups, however, are looking forward to Cook's expertise as a scientist.

"His background is research that relates to production agriculture. It will be nice to have somebody like that in the leadership role," said a wheat official.