Atlanta — May 11, 2006

Dr. David C. Bridges, assistant dean of the Tifton Campus of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia (UGA), was named today as president of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) by the Board of Regents and University System of Georgia Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr.

Bridges is expected to assume his new post on July 1, 2006.

Regent Julie Ewing Hunt served as chair of the Special Regents’ Committee charged with interviewing the presidential finalists and making a recommendation to the chancellor and the full Board of Regents for final approval.

“We are looking forward to the solid leadership David Bridges will bring to this presidency,” Regent Hunt said. “His administrative experience and his familiarity with the Tifton community will serve the institution extremely well.”

Chancellor Davis said, “Dr. Bridges is extremely knowledgeable, and under his administration, UGA’s Tifton Campus has expanded significantly. We are eager to see the impact he will have on ABAC.”

As assistant dean, Bridges has had administrative responsibility for the Tifton Campus of UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) since July 2001. During the last five years, Bridges and other CAES administrators have developed undergraduate and graduate instruction programs at the Tifton Campus, now home to research, teaching and extension programs. In 2004, Gov. Sonny Perdue announced that the UGA Tifton Campus would be home to the State’s Agricultural Innovation Center, which assists entrepreneurs and other businessmen in growing Georgia’s agribusiness economy.

Bridges’ research and teaching career at UGA dates back to 1987, when he was hired as an assistant professor by the university’s Department of Crop and Soil Sciences. He became an associate professor in 1992 and a full professor in 1997. Bridges’ research is in the area of weed and vegetation management, and has resulted in more than 200 publications, including five books, seven book chapters and 70 refereed journal articles. He is recognized as an expert on herbicides and has been sought after for his expertise in several areas of pesticide chemistry and plant physiology.

In addition to his administrative, research and teaching duties at UGA, Bridges has served as a lecturer at Purdue University, in Indiana, since 1995. During the last three years, he also has lectured at the State University of New York and at Jealot’s Hill Research Center, in England. Before joining the UGA faculty, Bridges taught weed ecology and biology at Texas A & M University, in College Station, from 1983 to 1986. He also worked as a graduate research assistant at Auburn University, in Alabama, from 1980 to 1982.

Bridges earned a Ph.D. in agronomy (weed science) from Texas A & M University in 1987. He also holds a master’s (1983) and a bachelor’s degree (1980) in agronomy from Auburn University, in Auburn, Ala. He also earned an associate’s degree in agricultural science from ABAC in 1978.

Bridges has roots in South Georgia. The son of a farmer and a teacher, he grew up on a farm in Terrell County.

« News Releases