Stallings Named Extension Associate Director
Charles Stallings, dairy science professor at Virginia Tech, has been selected as associate director of Virginia Cooperative Extension for agriculture and natural resource programs, announced Steve Umberger, VCE director.
Stallings has been a member of Virginia Tech's faculty since 1979 and for the past 12 years has been project leader for Extension's dairy science programs. He also has been director of the Virginia Tech Forage Lab since 1991 and served as interim department head of the dairy science department from 2000-2001.
"Charlie Stallings brings years of leadership and experience to this position," said Umberger. "We are fortunate to have someone with his knowledge of and dedication to Extension's educational programs and to the agriculture and natural resource industries that we serve.
"He has been an outstanding performer in his department and the university and has provided leadership for many state, regional, national and international efforts," Umberger added. "We look forward to his strong leadership for our agriculture and natural resource programs."
Stallings, who will assume his new position on Sept. 1, has been involved in Extension's dairy programs since 1981 and has been providing leadership for those programs for the past 12 years.
He said that one of his goals in his new position will be "to help build our system back after the budget cuts we have endured in recent years. The agents in the field and our specialists are at the heart of the system that serves the agriculture and natural resource industries.
"My role will be to bring in good new people, as we can, and to help our existing faculty, here and in the field, to develop and deliver strong programs."
Stallings' own programs have been characterized by the use of emerging technologies, such as on-farm computers for ration formulation, computer feeding programs, usable software for dairy producers and consultants and an emphasis on forage quality.
He also initiated a Feed and Nutritional Management Cow College short course that has attracted participants from five states. In 2001, the course served as a satellite downlink site for release of new National Research Council's Nutrient Requirements of Dairy Cattle.
Stallings has produced 28 Extension publications, 18 refereed journal articles, more than 165 articles in popular newsletters and trade magazines, more than 60 papers and presentations at conferences and conventions and 20 articles in conference proceedings.
He was awarded the Alumni Extension Excellence Award in 2002 and has been a member of the Extension Team Award winner in 1992 and 2001. In addition to numerous college, university and state committees, he has been director of the American Dairy Science Association's Production Division, chair of its Extension and Education Committee, and served two separate terms as President of the Annual College Dairy Feed Conference Board, which is composed of researchers and Extension specialists from the southern U.S.
He was one of six Extension Specialists selected from across the country to serve on the Dairy Records Core Parameters Nutrition Subcommittee.
Stallings has made more than 30 international trips to 16 countries to present information on dairy cattle nutrition.
He received his bachelors' degree from Eastern Kentucky University and his masters' and Ph.D. from Michigan State University. While at Michigan State, he was awarded a national Institute of Health Fellowship (1975-79).
