Murano honored with outstanding alumni award at Virginia Tech
Provides keynote address at ‘100 Years of Women at Virginia Tech’ celebration
Texas A&M AgriLife’s Elsa Murano, Ph.D., received the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Alumni Organization’s Outstanding Alumni in the Global Community award at its annual Celebration of Ut Prosim event on March 18.
Murano is currently the associate vice chancellor for strategic initiatives for Texas A&M AgriLife. She is responsible for oversight of special projects within Texas A&M AgriLife, including the new strategic plan and food safety and defense initiatives. She also oversees state and federal relations and lead organizational effectiveness efforts like the Professional Services Customer Advisory Team.
Murano was recognized by Virginia Tech for her distinguished academic career in food science, her academic leadership as a university dean and president as well as national leadership in a presidentially appointed position at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Her accolades also included her global leadership at her university through service to numerous international organizations dedicated to improving food security and human well-being.
In celebration of Virginia Tech’s Sesquicentennial, 100 Years of Women at Virginia Tech, Women’s Month at Virginia Tech and National Ag Day, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences invited Murano to deliver a keynote address on global sustainable agriculture production. She is a two-time graduate of the Food Science and Technology program.
A distinguished career
Murano began her career as an assistant professor in food microbiology at Iowa State University in 1990, where she conducted research in food safety and was appointed researcher-in-charge for the Electron Beam Food Irradiation Program.
In 1995, she joined the faculty at Texas A&M University as an associate professor, leading the university’s Center for Food Safety as director, and was awarded the Sadie Hatfield Professorship in Agriculture.
In 2001, Murano was appointed by Pres. George W. Bush to serve as undersecretary for food safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the highest-ranking food safety official in the U.S. government.
After her service at the USDA, Murano returned to Texas A&M, where she was appointed dean and vice chancellor of Agriculture and Life Sciences. In 2008, Murano became the first woman and first Hispanic president of Texas A&M University.
From 2012-2021, she served as director of the Norman E. Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture, a premier institution within Texas A&M that conducts development projects to lift small farmers out of poverty and hunger in Asia, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East.
