USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Director Dr. Jaye Hamby has announced that Dr. Nancy Cox, retired vice president for Land-grant engagement at the University of Kentucky, will deliver the 2025 William Henry Hatch Memorial Lecture Sunday, Nov. 9 in Philadelphia at the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) annual meeting.
Cox is a well-respected leader in agriculture research and education and across the industry. This honor recognizes her outstanding career and her continuing vision for the future of ag innovation and discovery to serve the people, improve agriculture and enhance the lives and livelihoods of America’s farmers.
The lecture is one of three rotating lectures presented by NIFA and APLU that honor three historic Land-grant University figures: William Henry Hatch, Seaman A. Knapp and Justin Smith Morrill.
This year's lecture commemorates the vision of Hatch, a Missouri Congressman who championed the Agricultural Experiment Station Founding Bill that became law in 1887 and celebrates the accomplishments of the Experiment Station System that the Hatch Act created. The William Henry Hatch Memorial Lectureship honors outstanding contemporary leadership in research and outstanding contributions as a researcher.
Cox joined the University of Kentucky in 2001 as the associate dean of research for the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment (CAFE) from Mississippi State University. She became dean in 2014, and in 2020, Cox was named Kentucky’s first vice president for Land-grant engagement. As vice president, she initiated a process to consider how the university extends the ethos of Land-grant service and mission throughout every corner of the campus community.
Her accomplishments include:
- Leading the creation of innovative programs and partnerships, such as the Racetrack Safety Program and James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits.
- Shepherding a more than $65 million partnership with USDA to develop a forage animal production research facility.
- Directing a comprehensive re-examination of the Cooperative Extension Service to strengthen its capacity to meet Kentucky’s growing needs.
- Fostering the largest gift in the institution’s history, $100 million from The Bill Gatton Foundation, which will enhance scholarships, academic programming and research.
- Launching a nearly half-billion-dollar capital transformation of the Martin-Gatton CAFE currently underway.
This is the 45th lecture in the series that began in 1980.