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Director

Susan M. Pheasant, Ph.D.

Phone: 559.278.4405

Biography

Dr. Susan Pheasant was hired in August 2018 as the 6^th Director of the Institute for Food and Agriculture (IFA). Dr. Pheasant has consulted with national and international agribusinesses and non-profit organizations to implement change technologies and educational programs, helped growers prepare for 3^rd party food safety certification audits, and conducted audits in the fresh fruit/vegetable industries. Most recently she held the position of director of the Ag Business and Technology Institute at Hartnell College in Salinas, CA. She is part of a six-generation lineage of apple growers within the United States (primarily Washington State). However, her “friends” fondly describe her as a “world nomad fruit bum.”

Dr. Pheasant’s educational background includes undergraduate degrees in Agricultural Economics and Business Administration (Washington State University) as well as an MBA-Ag Specialization (Cal Poly-SLO) and an Interdisciplinary Ph.D. incorporating ag econ, marketing, education, and rural sociology (WSU) to evaluate how growers make decisions to adopt new technologies and ideas. She collaborates regularly with food safety experts around the country to steward the Harmonized food safety standard as well serves on the GLOBAL G.A.P. national technical working group.