Dr. Amy Charkowski has been appointed as Dean of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia, for a five-year term effective October 1, 2026.

Dr. Charkowski joins UBC from Colorado State University, where she currently serves as the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education in the College of Agricultural Sciences. As a member of the CSU college leadership team, she has contributed to elevating research competitiveness, strengthening graduate education, and building cross-disciplinary collaborations across departments and colleges as well as with external partners.

“The Faculty of Land and Food Systems’ vision of balancing food systems and planetary health, its interdisciplinary structure, and its commitment to partnerships with communities align deeply with my experience and values,” said Dr. Charkowski. “I aim to expand the exceptional hands-on learning that occurs in this faculty through support of research centres, community-engaged projects, and partnerships that connect classroom learning to real-world food systems challenges. I am very excited about joining this Faculty.”

Previously, Dr. Charkowski worked as an Agricultural Research Service scientist and served as a faculty member with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Plant Pathology, where she led the Wisconsin Seed Potato Certification Program from 2001 to 2016. Dr. Charkowski joined CSU in 2016 and served as department head for Agricultural Biology until 2023, when she was appointed Associate Dean. In 2020, she was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She also earned her PhD from Cornell University and holds a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.