UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Deanna Behring, director of international programs for the College of Agricultural Sciences and affiliate faculty member in the School of International Affairs, has been appointed assistant dean for international programs for the college, effective Jan. 3, 2017.
In her role as assistant dean, Behring will help to plan and set priorities for the college and leverage resources to forge deep and lasting partnerships around the world.
"My goals are to implement the college's vision of becoming a leader in global education for our students and to facilitate research that allows our faculty to understand and address the complex challenges associated with the global food system and bring opportunities and knowledge back to Pennsylvania," she said.
Rick Roush, dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences, noted that the appointment recognizes the accomplishments of the Office of International Programs under Behring and will help to more fully integrate international programming into strategic discussions involving the college's trifold mission of research, teaching and extension.
"Deanna's work and our college's international programs are models for creativity and innovation," Roush said. "Within the international programs research and education field, she is well-recognized and respected and has provided top-level executive leadership for professional associations of international educators. Whether acting as president of a professional association or meeting with an undergraduate student, Deanna's interpersonal skills are superb. She is an active listener and is open to new ideas and co-creating paths forward."
Behring has served as the director of international programs in the College of Agricultural Sciences since 2000. In that time, she has helped to establish and grow an inclusive, broad-based international program portfolio across disciplines and the college's missions.
Under Behring's leadership, the Office of International Programs has expanded its staff and offerings, raised more than $75 million for collegewide initiatives and $2 million in endowments, established more than 20 new academic partnerships around the world, and increased enrollment and participation for undergraduate and international students. She spearheaded the implementation of a new dual-title graduate degree program in international agriculture and development and significantly increased enrollment in the college's undergraduate international agriculture minor.
In addition, she has been a leader in establishing the college's Gender in Agriculture, Energy and Environment Initiative and its Ag2Africa and Ag2Americas signature programs, as well as growing the college's embedded-course and study-abroad offerings. She also designs and teaches courses in food security.
Prior to arriving at Penn State, Behring spent more than a decade in Washington, D.C., serving as the assistant director for international affairs at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Clinton administration and as an analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency. She also worked on projects for the Department of Commerce, the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
In addition to her work at Penn State, Behring's higher-education experience includes teaching economics courses at the University of Colorado Boulder and English classes at Feng Chia University in Taiwan.
Behring holds a doctorate in communication arts and sciences from Penn State, a master's degree in international development from Ohio University and a bachelor's degree from Albion College in Albion, Michigan. She is fluent in Chinese and French.
During her tenure at Penn State, she has received several awards and appointments, including the Distinguished Service Award from the Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development in 2016. In June 2016, she was named an affiliate faculty member in the School of International Affairs.