Glenda Humiston
University of California President Janet Napolitano announced Friday that she has nominated Glenda Humiston, the California state director of the Agriculture Department’s Rural Development office, as her nominee for vice president for the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Napolitano noted in a news release that she launched a Global Food Initiative last year and that the Humiston would “expand the impact of an agriculture and natural resources division whose reach already extends across the globe.”

The UC Board of Regents will vote on the terms of the appointment at its July 21-23 meeting, Napolitano said.

Humiston has served in her current post since 2009, and was USDA deputy undersecretary for natural resources and environment in the Clinton administration.

She managed the Sustainable Development Institute at the 2002 World Summit for Sustainable Development in South Africa, as well as the World Water Forum in Mexico City in 2006. Early in her career, she served in the Peace Corps in Tunisia.

The vice president of UC’s Agriculture and Natural Resources division oversees 1,350 people working in 60 county offices, nine research and extension centers, and three administrative centers. The position became vacant upon the retirement of Barbara Allen-Diaz, the former vice president, on June 30.