Dean of the College of ACES announcement
April 6, 2023 4:02 PM

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to share that Germán Bollero has been selected to serve as the next dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. His appointment will begin April 16, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. The title until officially approved will be dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences designate. Bollero has served as interim dean of the College of ACES since Sept. 2021.

Previously, he served more than a decade in leadership in the college, most recently as associate dean of research and director of the Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station, and as head of the department of crop sciences. Along with his considerable skill, experience and passion, Interim Dean Bollero has been a member of the ACES family for over 30 years. His commitment to research at this university, his people-centered approach to leadership and ability to listen and engage various stakeholders will make him an outstanding leader in this role.

Bollero received his bachelor’s degree in agronomy from the National University of Rosario, Argentina. After earning both a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the U. of I. department of agronomy (now crop sciences), he left Illinois to become a professor in the department of plant science and landscape architecture at the University of Maryland, College Park. After serving in that role for two years, he joined the ACES faculty as assistant professor of biometry and cropping systems in 1998. Crop sciences remains his tenured home.

Bollero is internationally recognized for his scholarship on biometry and cropping systems. His research focuses on utilizing advanced statistical methods to define, quantify and find solutions to increase productivity of cropping systems, while providing environmental services. His teaching, service and research contributions have placed him on the Incomplete List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students dozens of times and earned him several ACES awards. Bollero was selected as a member of the ACES Academy of Teaching Excellence and was in the first class of the ACES Global Connect program. He is a Fellow of the Crop Science Society of America and the Agronomy Society of America.

Please join me in welcoming Dean Designate Bollero into his new permanent role. 

Sincerely,

William Bernhard 
Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost