Stewart Named New Director of West TN AgResearch and Education Center
August 17, 2020 
Dr. Scott Stewart (Photo:UTIA)
Dr. Scott Stewart has been named the next director of the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture’s West Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center in Jackson.
Stewart succeeds Robert Hayes, who is retiring September 30 after about 42 years with the West Tennessee AgResearch Center – first as a weed scientist and since 2002 as center director.
Stewart currently serves as Tennessee Extension specialist in integrated pest management and professor in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, based in Jackson. He will begin his appointment as director on October 1.
Since its establishment in 1907, the West Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center supports the work of scientists from several University of Tennessee departments. It also supports several USDA Agricultural Research Service scientists and houses UT Extension’s Western Region Office, as well as some offices of the UT Institute of Public Service and UT Martin. The scientists conduct more than 100 investigations annually, with an emphasis on corn, cotton, soybeans and wheat production dating back to the founding of the center. In more recent years, forestry and ornamental and turfgrass research have also been emphasized, as the center is home to the UT Gardens, Jackson – one of three sites of Tennessee’s State Botanical Garden.
The center includes 647 acres near downtown Jackson. The land features 18 different soil types, making it a uniquely valuable facility for agricultural research.
Stewart has been based at the center since 2002. Prior to that, he served at Mississippi State University for seven years. He has served as author, co-author or presenter on hundreds of scientific papers, as well as shepherding nine students through graduate school. Stewart holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Northern Iowa, a master’s degree in entomology from Texas A&M, and his doctorate in entomology from Auburn University.
Among his best-known efforts has been as a leader in the development of the popular UTCrops.com website and news blog, which together serve as a hub of historic and week-by-week information for crop producers in West Tennessee and the Mid-South.
“I am extremely pleased to have Dr. Stewart join our team of research directors,” said Hongwei Xin, dean of UT AgResearch, who oversees the UT Institute of Agriculture research program including 10 AgResearch and Education Centers across the state. “We have a strong record of service to our clientele and to agriculture and natural resource conservation in Tennessee, and I am sure that Dr. Stewart will continue that tradition with his leadership.”
“I’ll enjoy working with an even wider group of scientists and stakeholders in Tennessee,” says Stewart, who will be the seventh director of the West Tennessee Center. “My plan is to leave things better than I found them. That’ll be a challenge, considering the current director has done an excellent job.”
Xin noted that Hayes has served with distinction and with many accomplishments, including the opening of the center’s new research cotton gin and new greenhouse research facilities and the continued success of the UT Gardens, Jackson, and the annual Summer Celebration highlighting the West Tennessee nursery industry.
Based on information provided by the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture
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