A sociologist who until recently led one of the largest and most diverse university outreach organizations in higher education has been tapped as UC Davis' new vice provost for university outreach and international programs. William B. Lacy, director of Cornell Cooperative Extension from 1994 to 1998, will begin his new job Aug. 1, 1999, providing leadership and coordination for all aspects of the campus's expanding outreach and international initiatives. Lacy will work closely with other campus leaders to facilitate and stimulate the development of curricular offerings, educational programs and research initiatives that advance campus objectives in outreach and international programs. He also will provide leadership in outreach activities and programs, including campus initiatives with government, business and communities to address societal needs. In addition, Lacy will coordinate campus international initiatives, including the establishment of a campuswide Office of International Programs. The new senior administrative post was created last fall. Lacy was selected following a national search to fill the position. Lacy said he is very pleased to join the UC Davis community next summer. "I look forward to working with faculty, staff and administrative colleagues to facilitate and promote the important core activities of outreach and international programs," he said. "In the future the importance of these functions for UC Davis is likely to increase, particularly given the expansion of lifelong learning, an increasing need to address societal issues through the application of multidisciplinary research and educational programs, and the globalization of our society." Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Robert Grey said Lacy is uniquely qualified to assume this important leadership role on the Davis campus. "He has had broad-based experience in the many aspects of this position at major land-grant universities similar to our own and is committed to involving all areas of the campus in outreach and international initiatives," Grey said. "Dr. Lacy's energy, vision and commitment to our goal of being a fully engaged university will serve the campus well in the years to come." Lacy has worked in public land-grant universities in the Northeast, Midwest and South, most recently at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. With a budget over $90 million, the Cornell Cooperative Extension serves the citizens of New York with educational programs focused on agricultural and food-system sustainability; children, youth and family well-being; community and economic vitality; environmental and natural resource enhancement; and nutrition, health and safety. While at Cornell, Lacy also served on the Cornell President's Council and the University Outreach Council to provide leadership and strategies for engaging the entire university in community outreach, both domestically and internationally. As a faculty member, Lacy has conducted research, education and program evaluations funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the National Research Council in Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Brazil, the Sudan, India, Indonesia and the Philippines. He has co-authored or co-edited six books and more than 50 journal articles and book chapters on science policy, agricultural research, biotechnology and sustainable agriculture. He recently co-authored "Plants, Power and Profit: Social, Economic and Ethical Consequences of the New Biotechnologies" (1991) and "Making Nature, Shaping Culture: Plant Biodiversity in Global Context" (1995). In 1992-93, he served as president of the Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society. This month he assumes the presidency of the Rural Sociological Society, the major professional association in his discipline. Lacy is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Before assuming the extension leadership position at Cornell, Lacy was assistant dean for research and assistant director of the experiment station at Pennsylvania State University's College of Agricultural Sciences from 1989 to 1994. He also held several influential positions while on the faculty of the University of Kentucky between 1975 and 1989. He was director of the interdisciplinary, intercollege Food, Environment, Agriculture and Society in Transition Program from 1985 to 1989; vice chair of the faculty council for the arts and sciences college; associate chair of the sociology department; and university academic ombudsman. Lacy earned a bachelor's degree in industrial sociology/economics from Cornell in 1964 before obtaining a master's degree in higher-education administration from Colgate University in 1965. He then received another master's degree and a doctoral degree, both in sociology/social psychology, from the University of Michigan, graduating in 1975.