The University of Saskatchewan is pleased to announce that Dorothy Murrell has accepted the position of Managing Director of the University's Crop Development Centre (CDC) effective January 1, 2007.

Well known in the Canadian seed industry, Dorothy Murrell comes to the CDC from Svalöf Weibull Seed Ltd., where for seven years she was North American Business Manager, responsible for the business management, commercialization, strategic and financial planning of the company's North American plant breeding business. Prior to that, she was Production and Corporate Sales Manager for Newfield Seeds in Nipawin, SK, where she managed the in-licensing, contract production, procurement and corporate sales of forages, special crops, and canola and grains. Murrell also has experience as the Forage Seed Specialist for Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food, and as an international consultant, having managed the start-up of the Saskatchewan Ukraine Farm Project for Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership (STEP).

"Ms. Murrell's professional affiliations and past employment experiences are well recognized at the provincial, national and international level in the agriculture industry," said Bruce Coulman, Head of the Plant Sciences Department. "This is first time in the history of the Crop Development Centre that a Managing Director has been appointed from outside of the Department of Plant Sciences and we are very pleased to have someone of Ms. Murrell's calibre on board."

Murrell received her BSc in Biology from Simon Fraser University, and her MSc in Entomology/Crop Science from the Ontario Agricultural College at the University of Guelph. She is president of the Canadian Seed Trade Association, has served on the National Forum on Seed committee and the Expert Committee on Forage Crops, is past President of the Melfort Branch of the Saskatchewan Institute of Agrologists, past treasurer for the Entomological Society of Saskatchewan, and a member of the STEP board of directors. Murrell has been awarded honorary lifetime memberships in both the Saskatchewan Alfalfa Seed Producers Association and the Saskatchewan Seed Growers Association.