Barry J. Jacobsen was born in Racine, Wisconsin in 1947. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in plant pathology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1969 and 1971 and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Minnesota in 1973. He joined the faculty at the University of Illinois as extension plant pathologist in 1973 and was appointed project leader in extension plant pathology in 1978. In 1987, he was selected as head of the Department of Plant Pathology at Auburn University, which became a national leader in biological control research. He was named dean of the College of Agriculture at Montana State University and Director of the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station in 1992. After two years of severe budget cuts he joined the faculty of the Department of Plant Pathology at Montana State University, with extension, research, and teaching responsibilities. He accepted a one-year appointment as the first USDA IPM program coordinator and served in this position for 18 months. He then returned full time to Montana State University and also served as extended faculty for USDA/CSREES for two more years. He has maintained a strong interest in extension education and integrated disease management research on vegetables, field crops, grain storage, potato, and sugarbeets. Dr. Jacobsen has supervised eight Ph.D. candidates and 12 M.S. students. In addition, he has provided service to APS as councilor-at-large, as a member of the board of directors of the APS Foundation for 10 years, as a member or as the chair of 11 subject matter or general policy committees, and as APS representative to CAST.
