Board of Regents honors Texas A&M AgriLife professionals

The Texas A&M University System announced six Regents Fellows and one Regents Professor from across Texas A&M AgriLife in a special ceremony on Feb. 6.

The Regents Professor Awards program was established in 1996, and the Regents Fellow Service Awards program was created in 1997 to honor employees who have made extraordinary contributions to their university or agency, as well as to the people of Texas.

These awards are some of the highest honors presented by the Texas A&M University System to members of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M Forest Service and the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory for exemplary professional service. 

2023-2024 Regents Fellow Service Award recipients

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service recipients

• Dan Hale, Ph.D., associate director for agriculture and natural resources and meat specialist within the Department of Animal Science. He closely collaborates with programs and organizations across Texas and co-directs the Path to the Plate Program, which educates Texans on the vital connection between agriculture and health. Since joining AgriLife Extension in 1985, he has dedicated his career to sharing expertise on diet, health, animal welfare, food safety, livestock growth and meat science. Since 1990, he has served as a co-principal investigator for the National Beef Quality Audit and worked with the National Consumer Retail Beef Study, the National Market Basket Survey and the Beef Tenderness Survey. A past president and Fellow of the American Meat Science Association, Hale has received numerous accolades, including the Texas A&M Association of Former Students Distinguished Service Award for Extension and Service, the Vice Chancellor Distinguished Service Award, the AgriLife Extension Superior Service Award for Extension Specialist, and the Bluebonnet Award with the Texas Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. 
  
• Jana Osbourn serves as the regional program leader for family and community health in the South Region, overseeing Districts 10 and 12. She provides leadership for 41 rural counties and two urban counties and supervises approximately 120 county agents and 50 program assistants. With 34 years of service to AgriLife Extension, she is recognized as an innovative leader, effective communicator and dedicated professional. Osbourn began her career as an assistant county agent in Lamar County and later served as a County Extension Agent in Kendall, Bandera and Lamar counties. In her current role, she leads the Family and Community Health program in the South Region, focusing on employee onboarding, program development, volunteer engagement and fostering collaboration among educators in the region. Osbourn’s leadership has earned her recognition from local to national levels, including the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Services team award.

Texas A&M AgriLife Research recipient

• Daniel Leskovar, Ph.D., director of the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Centers at Dallas and Uvalde and professor in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Horticultural Sciences, began serving as an AgriLife Research vegetable physiologist in 1991 in Uvalde. With a background in horticultural sciences, he is an expert in plant physiology, soil science, irrigation, hydroponics and integrated crop management. Leskovar’s research projects in vegetable physiology aim to uncover the mechanisms plants use to adapt to environmental stresses. Throughout his career, Leskovar has significantly contributed to new knowledge in plant responses to abiotic stresses and crop management systems. He has served as associate director for the Texas A&M Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center, and his leadership helped the unit broaden engagement with regional vegetable industries and stakeholders and expand collaboration among researchers and graduate students. He was vice chair and chair of the Division of Vegetables, Roots and Tubers at the International Society for Horticultural Science and president of the American Society of Horticultural Sciences.

Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory recipient

• Jordan Brod, operations program director, joined the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory in 1999 as a student worker in the histopathology section. Following his graduation in 2000, he was promoted multiple times, from an entry level technician to histopathology laboratory supervisor and then to serve in a dual role, adding quality assurance and safety duties to his repertoire. Transitioning later to operations, he served as the agency operations manager until 2021, when he assumed his current role as operations program director. In this role, Brod oversees the agency’s facilities, information technology, client supply store, biohazard and glassware sterilization and shipping components. In all facets of his role, Brod ensures the success of others by mitigating potential issues and addressing any issues that arise despite his preventative measures. Each day, Brod works through maintenance requests, plans for future projects and safeguards the efficiency of the agency’s laboratories. In his tenure, he has led efforts to construct a 93,000 sq. ft. laboratory in College Station and the 22,000 sq. ft. laboratory in Canyon. In addition to these new facilities, he regularly leads improvement projects across the agency’s four laboratories. 

Texas A&M Forest Service recipients

• Travis Zamzow, chief financial officer and associate director, finance, began his career at Texas A&M Forest Service as a senior staff accountant in 2003, and from 2004 to 2024 he served as the agency’s Budgets and Accounting Department head. In 2024, Zamzow was named CFO and associate director, finance. He has over 32 years of experience in accounting and finance. During his time as department head, he led the preparation of the agency’s annual operating budgets and financial reports while leading a finance and budget department of 10. In this role, he also improved the effectiveness of the department’s operations, resolved complex accounting issues and actively trained and mentored the members of the department. The agency’s unique set of state funding streams along with its emergency response activity, which can cross as many as five funding sources, add significant complexities to the agency’s financial structure, accounting and cash management. In his two decades at the agency, Zamzow has managed the processing of over $820 million in emergency response finances. Zamzow has also led the agency’s legislative appropriation requests process for 12 years. 
  
• Joel Hambright, regional operations chief, began his career at Texas A&M Forest Service in 1994 as a district forester in Cleveland. Hambright served as district forester and regional forester in Huntsville before becoming a regional operations chief, where he oversees the operations of agency programs within 13 Southeast Texas counties. He holds National Wildland Coordinating Group qualifications as a Firefighter Type 1; Firefighter Type 2; Heavy Equipment Boss; Single Resource; Strike Team Leader; Incident Commander Type 5; and Liaison Officer. One of his most pivotal accomplishments at the agency is his role in the development of the Texas Forest Expo, a workshop for landowners and homeowners near Houston to manage their property and make sustainable development decisions. Additionally, his efforts have enabled Project Learning Tree to expand its reach and impact across Texas schools and communities through the annual A Walk in the Forest. Hambright has received numerous awards for his service in forestry including the Texas A&M AgriLife Vice Chancellor’s Award in Excellence for Public Service in Forestry, the Texas Forestry Association Forestry Outreach and Education award and Laurence C. Walker Award for Distinguished Service to Forestry by the Texas Society of American Foresters.

2023-2024 Regents Professor Award recipient

Texas A&M AgriLife Research recipient

• William Murphy, Ph.D., a faculty member in the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences and the James E. Womack University Professor of Genetics, is the new director for the Center for Comparative Genomics. Murphy’s research and classroom instruction focuses on the field of comparative genomics, which identifies similarities and differences between the genomes of different species. His research seeks to describe and understand evolutionary processes in mammals that result in different species, adaptations and overall biological diversity. His work has helped redefine the mammalian tree of life and transform scientists’ understanding of biology, especially through his research on the domestic cat genome. One of Murphy’s other areas of expertise is cat evolution and genomics, with his work supporting new medical treatments and conservation efforts that promote feline health and well-being. Murphy was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors a scientist can achieve. He is also an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has received both the Chancellor’s EDGES Fellowship and a Presidential Impact Fellowship from Texas A&M.

To review the full list of A&M System as Regents Professors and Regents Fellows, visit https://news.tamus.edu/regents-approve-18-regents-professors-13-regents-fellows/