Rachel K. Johnson, professor of nutrition, has been named dean of the University of Vermont’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Provost A. John Bramley announced today. “Rachel Johnson has been leading the college forward with great skill and energy for 18 months,” said Bramley of Johnson’s interim position as acting dean of the college. Johnson replaces Bramley, who left the position to become interim provost in June 2001 and was named provost by UVM President Daniel Mark Fogel in October 2002. “I am enormously pleased that Rachel Johnson has agreed to take on this critical role for UVM,” said Fogel. “Rachel is an outstanding teacher, a nationally recognized scholar for her work on children’s diets and an administrator with several years’ experience in the college. She has established great support in the external constituencies with whom the college works,” Bramley added. Johnson came to Vermont in 1991 after completing her doctoral studies at Pennsylvania State University. Previously she was a faculty member at the University of Hawaii and spent more than 10 years working as a registered dietitian in various health-care and academic settings. While at Vermont, she was appointed by the Secretaries of Agriculture and Health and Human Services and the U.S. Surgeon General to the 2000 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. She was part of the panel that in September captured national attention when it published the Dietary Reference Intake Report, issued by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine. Johnson received the 2001 Award for Excellence in Research from the American Dietetic Association Foundation. The findings of her research on flavored milk and children’s diets have been widely published in the academic and popular press. This year she was chosen University Scholar by her UVM colleagues in honor of her research and scholarly excellence. “Under Rachel’s leadership I am confident that we can expect even greater achievements in the future,” says Bramley.-UVM Press Release