- Writer: Kathleen Phillips, 979-845-2872, ka-phillips@tamu.edu
- Contact: Dr. Travis Miller, 979-845-4808, td-miller@tamu.edu
COLLEGE STATION — Dr. Travis Miller, whose expertise in crops and their production systems led him to assist farmers throughout the state for 35 years, has been named the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service interim director for state operations.
Miller had been the agency’s associate head and AgriLife Extension program leader for soil and crop sciences, based at Texas A&M University, since 2001.
Dr. Travis Miller. (Texas A&M AgriLife Communications photo by Kathleen Phillips)
“Dr. Miller is well known and respected throughout the state for his knowledge and ability to work with people both within and beyond the agency,” said Dr. Doug Steele, AgriLife Extension director. “I know his skills will be vital in carrying our agency forward to meet the needs of the people of Texas through the educational resources of our agency.”
Miller said his new role is both “challenging and exciting.”
“I’ve traveled extensively in most of the state and have had the opportunity to meet and work with a lot of people and commodity folks,” Miller said. “But this role is much broader, so I am visiting withalarge number of groups both internally and externally to begin with. I want to do my best in this role, and this requires that I have to know more about each component.”
Central to his position, Miller believes, will be a look at the critical needs in personnel and programming areas to fill any missing parts to help the agency provide the best educational experiences and support for people in Texas.
Miller said he has conducted educational programs for farmers in about 75 percent of the state during his career. He joined AgriLife Extension in 1979 as an agronomist based in Weslaco, where he worked with farmers and did programming, primarily with cotton, grains and soybeans in the Rio Grande Valley.
In 1982, Miller became the state agronomist for small grains and soybeans, headquartered in College Station, a position he held until 2001.
After obtaining his bachelor’s degree in agricultural mechanization from Texas A&M-Kingsville, Miller earned master’s and doctoral degrees in soil science from Texas Tech University.
-30-
