UT Institute of Agriculture Presents Top Faculty and Staff Awards for 2024
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture celebrated the accomplishments of some of its top faculty, staff, researchers and Extension experts at UTIA’s annual awards and promotions luncheon. This year’s ceremony was held in the newly-opened Agriculture and Natural Resources Building on the UTIA campus in Knoxville on August 14, 2024. Many of the awards are gifts made possible by faculty, alumni and friends of the Institute.
UT Institute of Agriculture Senior Vice Chancellor and Senior Vice President Keith Carver hosted the award winners and praised them for their work. “I continue to be amazed by the dedication, enthusiasm and expertise demonstrated by the impressive work of our UTIA faculty and staff,” says Carver. “The awards are well deserved, and the impacts of these accomplishments are seen across the state and will benefit Tennesseans for generations.”
Andrew Muhammad, professor and Blasingame Chair of Excellence in Agricultural Policy in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, is the recipient of the UT Smith Center for International Sustainable Agriculture Faculty Global Excellence Award. The award is presented to a faculty member who makes extraordinary contributions to the advancement of the international mission of the Institute.
Muhammad, who came to UTIA in 2018 after working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, specializes in international trade, trade policy, global food demand, U.S. and Tennessee export competitiveness and applied time series analysis. He helps stakeholders evaluate opportunities, policies and programs on international trade. While at UTIA, he has helped the Tennessee Department of Agriculture obtain USDA funding to promote Tennessee forest products in Vietnam. He is currently working on a project to assess the economic and environmental impacts of US wood pellet trade.
“This award is a great honor, and I am pleased to work alongside outstanding colleagues to help UTIA and the state of Tennessee make advances in international trade,” he said. “It is rewarding to see real and significant outcomes of research and outreach efforts.”
Muhammad earned his bachelor’s degree in agribusiness from Southern University, his master’s degree in agricultural economics at the University of Missouri and his Ph.D. in food and resource economics at the University of Florida.
The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture is comprised of the Herbert College of Agriculture, UT College of Veterinary Medicine, UT AgResearch, and UT Extension. Through its land-grant mission of teaching, research and outreach, the Institute touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. to Tennesseans and beyond. utia.tennessee.edu.