Steven Pueppke, associate dean for research in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois, has been selected as the new director of the National Soybean Research Laboratory. Peter Goldsmith, assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the U of I, will also take on responsibilities as the new NSRL Fellow in Agricultural Strategy.

The announcements came during a ceremony in which Illinois soybean farmers formally approved the continuation of an endowment at the U of I designed to help with strategic planning for the soybean industry.

Farmers, through the Illinois Soybean Checkoff, created the endowment in 1996 to form the Soybean Industry Chair for Agricultural Strategy at the University of Illinois.  The chair included agricultural strategy for the soybean industry, as well as management of the newly created NSRL. At that time, Steven Sonka, professor of agricultural economics, was selected to serve as the head and administer of the endowment.

Sonka's retirement in December of 2002 led to the division of these responsibilities into two categories--director of the NSRL and fellow in strategy for the soybean industry. Through this arrangement, Pueppke will serve as director of the NSRL, and Goldsmith will assume the position as the NSRL Fellow in Agricultural Strategy.

Pueppke will also continue as associate dean for research in the College of ACES, interim director for ACES Global Connect, and professor of plant pathology in the Department of Crop Sciences.

"These two positions provide a very stable center for industry-wide leadership and strategy so that all soybean programs may be integrated into an effective package," said Sharon Covert, chairperson of the Illinois Soybean Checkoff Board and soybean farmer from Tiskilwa.  "This investment ensures that producer profitability is always of utmost concern now or fifty years in the future."

Pueppke succeeds Donald A. Holt, emeritus senior associate dean in the College of ACES, who has served as interim director of the NSRL since the beginning of 2003.