UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A longtime faculty member and research leader in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences will serve in the newly created role of associate director of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station.
Beth Gugino, who currently serves as assistant dean for graduate education in the college — a position she will maintain — begins her new duties effective Oct. 1. She will continue to report to Blair Siegfried, associate dean for research and graduate education and director of the experiment station.
“Beth’s background as a researcher, graduate program coordinator, student mentor and extension specialist equips her with a deep understanding of the college’s land-grant mission,” Siegfried said. “Her unwavering dedication to tackling global challenges such as food security, health issues, climate change and clean water position her as an ideal match for this pioneering role.”
The Agricultural Experiment Station is the cornerstone of the College of Agricultural Sciences’ research efforts. It empowers the college with the capacity and flexibility to face challenges, seize opportunities and sustain agriculture in Pennsylvania.
The AES was established with funding from the Hatch Act of 1887 and marked a huge leap in Penn State's agricultural science capabilities. Today, it is the college's umbrella organization for managing and reporting state and federally funded research.
More than 250 faculty in the college are conducting USDA-approved agricultural research experiments or projects. These researchers work across more than 300 buildings on the University Park campus and at the nearby Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center at Rock Springs; at the Fruit Research and Extension Center in Adams County; at the Lake Erie Regional Grape Research and Extension Center in Erie County; and at the Southeast Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Lancaster County.
As associate director, Gugino will oversee research facilities — including research and production operations — at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center, at Mendel’s Way Greenhouse and Farm near State College, and in on-campus college greenhouses. In addition, she will represent the college at regional and national meetings of experiment station directors.
Gugino said she intends to expand the college’s research initiatives and facilitate the necessary infrastructure enhancements to further elevate the college’s already exceptional contributions.
“I want to underscore the significance of research in enhancing the quality of life, not only for the residents of Pennsylvania but on a national and global scale,” she said. “Our faculty and graduate students possess the expertise and dedication to serve as catalysts for change, a vital role in these challenging times. Our college boasts one of the most robust research profiles among our peer institutions, and we are determined to build upon this success.”
Gugino earned a bachelor’s degree in horticulture and master’s and doctoral degrees in plant pathology, all from Penn State. She was a postdoctoral scholar in plant pathology at Cornell University from 2004 to 2008 before joining the faculty in Penn State’s Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology as an assistant professor. She achieved the ranks of associate professor in 2014 and full professor in 2019. She also was the director of graduate studies for the plant pathology graduate program from 2016 to 2022.
Gugino’s research and extension interests include integrated vegetable disease management, plant pathogen diagnosis, disease monitoring and forecasting, and sustainable crop production. She works with research faculty, extension specialists and county-based extension educators to develop integrated pest and crop management strategies that address important and emerging diseases of the major vegetable crops grown in Pennsylvania.
She also has focused on existing and new technologies that can provide growers and other agricultural service providers with research-based information on pathogen biology, epidemiology and vegetable disease management. She has authored or co-authored 37 peer-reviewed journal articles, 80 conference proceedings, and scores of extension publications and trade journal articles. In addition, she has given more than 350 extension presentations.
Gugino has served on several college and University committees and is a member of the American Phytopathological Society, Pasa Sustainable Agriculture (formerly the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture), and the Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association. She served on the board of directors of Pennsylvania Certified Organic from 2017 to 2021 and is currently a member of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Pesticide Advisory Board.
Among Gugino’s numerous awards and honors are the 2023 Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2019 American Phytopathological Society Excellence in Extension Award, the 2013-14 Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology Excellence in Teaching Award, and the 2011 American Phytopathological Society Northeastern Division Early Career Professional Award.
She was inducted into agriculture honor society Gamma Sigma Delta and horticulture honor society Pi Alpha Xi.
“We are pleased to have Beth Gugino in this new role,” said László Kulcsár, interim dean of the college. “Her outstanding qualifications, dedication and visionary approach leave us with great confidence that she will elevate our institution’s agricultural research endeavors.”