Davis College Associate Dean Robert Cox Named National President of NARRU - Texas Tech University

The organization, known as NARRU, represents public universities that teach agriculture and natural resources outside the traditional land-grant system. Cox stepped into the role during NARRU's annual conference at East Texas A&M University, about 60 miles northeast of Dallas. His election puts a Texas Tech administrator at the head of a national group whose member schools collectively educate a large number of agriculture and natural resources students.

Cox said he's excited to represent those universities on a national stage. For the Davis College, the presidency puts Texas Tech's name in front of agriculture programs across the country every time NARRU meets, sets policy, or makes its case to lawmakers and funders. It gives students here a dean's office with a direct line into the national conversation about how non-land-grant schools compete for resources and recognition against bigger, older land-grant institutions like Texas A&M.

It's a niche title most people outside academia will never hear of, but it puts a Lubbock name at the front of that conversation.