Gilstrap Named Resident Director of Dallas Agricultural Research and Extension Center

DALLAS –- Dr. Frank E. Gilstrap has been named resident director of the Texas A&M University System Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Dallas, effective March 15.

He replaces Dr. Tim Davis, who became resident director in 1996 and who has been serving jointly as Texas A&M University horticultural sciences department head since 2003. Davis will return to College Station to focus on horticultural sciences administration full time.

The Dallas center, 17360 Coit Road, is a premier source for research and educational programs related to urban landscapes, agriculture, the environment, and other related issues impacting people in the local, national and global communities. The center houses a team of Texas Agricultural Experiment Station researchers – which Gilstrap will lead – and Texas Cooperative Extension’s regional specialists.

“Dr. Gilstrap has demonstrated his excellent leadership abilities in research throughout his career,” said Dr. Elsa Murano, the system’s vice chancellor and dean of agriculture. “His presence at Dallas will be a positive step as we continue to pursue science that benefits urban people in our state.”

Gilstrap began his career at Texas A&M in 1974 as an assistant professor of entomology, specializing in sorghum insects. By 1986, he had risen through the ranks to full professor of entomology. His career also has included a stint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service in Weslaco in the late 1970s, interim resident director of the system’s Agricultural Research and Extension Center in El Paso in 1998-99 and associate director of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, 1996-2003.

He has been involved in many professional organizations and currently is vice president of the Entomological Society of America. He has won numerous awards, including the 1996 Vice Chancellor’s Award in Excellence for International Involvement.

Gilstrap earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Fresno State College in 1968, a master’s degree in 1971 and a doctorate in 1974, both in entomology from the University of California-Riverside.

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