Arkansas Research Alliance names Dr. Deacue Fields to board of trustees

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by Talk Business & Politics staff ([email protected]) ago 50 views 

The Arkansas Research Alliance (ARA) announced that Dr. Deacue Fields, vice president for agriculture of the University of Arkansas System, has joined the ARA Board of Trustees.

The ARA is a public-private partnership that works with the state’s research universities to recruit scientists and researchers to the state. It’s goal is to develop research that can eventually be adopted into private enterprises.

“Deacue brings a multi-disciplinary and collaborative vision to the ARA Board of Trustees,” said Bryan Barnhouse, president and CEO of ARA. “Agricultural research serves as a major cornerstone for Arkansas’ integrative research platform that spans fields of study and applications, and to have his insight on the Board is immeasurably valuable as we grow our state’s technological competitiveness.”

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture is the statewide research and extension agency serving Arkansas agriculture, communities, families and youth. Agriculture serves as the state’s largest industry, adding an estimated $21 billion to Arkansas’ economy every year.

“Agricultural research and extension investments result in $10 to $20 in benefits for every $1 spent,” said Fields. “It is critical that agricultural research funding increase to remain a global leader and produce the technological advances necessary to meet the challenge of feeding the growing global population. I’ve long appreciated the efforts made by ARA to bring more visibility to Arkansas research, and I’m honored to do all that I can to make research matter in the Natural State.”

Fields joined the University of Arkansas (UA) in 2018 after serving at Auburn University’s Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., in 1993, his master’s degree from the University of Missouri in 1995 and his doctorate from LSU in 2002, all in agricultural economics.

The ARA Board of Trustees is comprised of Arkansas business leaders and the chancellor from each of the state’s five major research universities.