{"id":3205,"date":"2022-02-24T10:35:31","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T14:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/?page_id=3205"},"modified":"2026-05-07T10:41:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T14:41:54","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/cegfsd\/about-us\/","title":{"rendered":"About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<style>\n.rounded-style img{\n  border-radius: 15%;\n}\n<\/style>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cover is-light\" style=\"min-height:272px;aspect-ratio:unset;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"310\" class=\"wp-block-cover__image-background wp-image-13555 size-large\" alt=\"Cassava crop\" src=\"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2025\/06\/casava-1024x310.jpg\" data-object-fit=\"cover\"\/><span aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-cover__background has-background-dim-10 has-background-dim\" style=\"background-color:#a59571\"><\/span><div class=\"wp-block-cover__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-cover-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-white-color has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-b1b24e59ed18b7ce9694d32ea7a84fd9 wp-block-paragraph\">CEGFSD<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Meet Our Team<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignfull has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile alignwide is-style-default, rounded-style\" style=\"grid-template-columns:auto 48%\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The CEGFSD\u2019s management structure is made up of four key governance entities: a governing board, an executive committee, a core administration, and an advisory council. The core administrative function is implemented by the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) in conjunction with the 1890 Universities Foundation. The governing board is made up of representatives from the 19 participating 1890 land-grant universities. It ensures fair representation of each member institution and a free flow of information. An executive committee consisting of PDs and Co-PDs is responsible for overall decision-making, strategy, prioritization, and evaluation of the Center\u2019s activities. The core administration comprising a Center director, associate director, and a program coordinator is responsible for general administrative and financial management. The external advisory council is responsible for providing recommendations to the governing board on the Center\u2019s strategic direction and implementation of project activities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2022\/05\/IMG_1742.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5334 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2022\/05\/IMG_1742.jpg 640w, https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2022\/05\/IMG_1742-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Executive Committee<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Name<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><td>&nbsp;<strong>University<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Dr. Moses Kairo, Director&nbsp; &nbsp;<\/strong><\/td><td>&nbsp;University of Maryland Eastern Shore<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Dr. Stephan Tubene, Associate Director&nbsp; &nbsp;<\/strong><\/td><td>&nbsp;University of Maryland Eastern Shore<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Dr. Dovi Alipoe<\/td><td>&nbsp;Alcorn State University<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Dr. Marikis Alvarez<\/td><td>&nbsp;Delaware State University<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Dr. Matthew Blair&nbsp;<\/td><td>&nbsp;Tennessee State University<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Dr. Eunice Bonsi<\/td><td>&nbsp;Tuskegee University<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Dr. Michelle Corley<\/td><td>&nbsp;Central State University<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Ms. Harriet Paul<\/td><td>&nbsp;Florida A&amp;M University<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Dr. Jose Ulises Toledo<\/td><td>&nbsp;Southern University<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Dr. Osei Yeboah<\/td><td>&nbsp;North Carolina A&amp;T State University&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Advisory Council<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Name&nbsp;<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Title \/ Organization<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Dr. Sunday Ekesi&nbsp;<\/td><td>Director of Research and Partnerships \/ International Centre of Insect Physiology &amp; Ecology ICIPE<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Dr. Albert Essel&nbsp;<\/td><td>Executive Administrator \/ Association of Extension Administrators AEA<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Ms. Sylvia Megret&nbsp;<\/td><td>President and Chief Operating Director \/ Agriculture Cooperative Development International\/Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance ACDI-&nbsp; &nbsp;VOCA<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Dr. Francisco Mello<\/td><td>Manager, Center of Knowledge Management and Horizontal Cooperation \/&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iica.int\/en\">Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture IICA<\/a>&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Mr. Bryan Norrington<\/td><td>Director \/ Office of International Research Engagement and Cooperation USA-OIREG<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Dr. Julie Shortridge&nbsp;<\/td><td>Assistant Professor, Extension Specialist \/ Virginia Tech<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Dr. Alton Thompson<\/td><td>Executive Director \/ Association of 1890 Research Directors ARD<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Ms. Beattra Wilson&nbsp;<\/td><td>Assistant Director, Urban and Community Forestry \/ USDA Forest Service USDA<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Core Administration<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-image rounded-style\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2023\/08\/Dr-Kiaro-good-072623-1-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Moses T. Kairo, CEGFSD Director\" class=\"wp-image-8484\" style=\"width:256px;height:256px\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Moses T. Kairo, Ph.D., DIC<\/strong><br>CEGFSD Director<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-image rounded-style\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"256\" height=\"256\" src=\"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2025\/02\/Stephan-Tubene-grey-2023_200x200.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Stephan L. Tubene, CEGFSD Associate Director\" class=\"wp-image-11757\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2025\/02\/Stephan-Tubene-grey-2023_200x200.jpg 256w, https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2025\/02\/Stephan-Tubene-grey-2023_200x200-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2025\/02\/Stephan-Tubene-grey-2023_200x200-200x200.jpg 200w, https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2025\/02\/Stephan-Tubene-grey-2023_200x200-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 256px) 100vw, 256px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Stephan L. Tubene, Ph.D.<\/strong><br>CEGFSD Associate Director<br><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-image rounded-style\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2025\/07\/TGD-Maricelle-071625-gray-2111-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Maricelle Saullo, CEGFSD Assistant Director\" class=\"wp-image-13684\" style=\"width:205px;height:256px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2025\/07\/TGD-Maricelle-071625-gray-2111-scaled.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2025\/07\/TGD-Maricelle-071625-gray-2111-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2025\/07\/TGD-Maricelle-071625-gray-2111-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2025\/07\/TGD-Maricelle-071625-gray-2111-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2025\/07\/TGD-Maricelle-071625-gray-2111-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2025\/07\/TGD-Maricelle-071625-gray-2111-1638x2048.jpg 1638w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Maricelle Saullo<\/strong><br>CEGFSD Assistant Director<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-image rounded-style\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"205\" height=\"256\" src=\"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2025\/06\/TGD-carlosCruz-013025-gray-02945084.jpg\" alt=\"Carlos V. Cruz, CEGFSD Program Coordinator\" class=\"wp-image-13563\" style=\"width:205px;height:256px\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Carlos V. Cruz<\/strong><br>Program Coordinator<br><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-image rounded-style\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"205\" height=\"256\" src=\"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2025\/06\/Mahsa_6657.jpeg\" alt=\"Mahsa Sheikhi Karizaki, Data Analyst and Visualization\" class=\"wp-image-13564\" style=\"width:205px;height:256px\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Mahsa Sheikhi<\/strong> <strong>Karizaki<\/strong><br>Data Analyst &amp; Visualization<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meet Our Team The CEGFSD\u2019s management structure is made up of four key governance entities: a governing board, an executive committee, a core administration, and an advisory council. The core administrative function is implemented by the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) in conjunction with the 1890 Universities Foundation. The governing board is made up&#8230;<span class=\"cpschool-read-more-link-holder\"><a class=\"btn btn-basic cpschool-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/cegfsd\/about-us\/\">Read more <span class=\"sr-only\">About Us<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":3200,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"folder":[53],"class_list":["post-3205","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3205\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=3205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}