Gary Felton, professor of entomology at the University of Arkansas, has been appointed head of the Department of Entomology.

“Dr. Felton brings to this position an outstanding record of quality teaching and research, as well as excellent leadership skills that will help continue to move our entomology programs to a higher level,” says Dean Robert Steele. “He is a great addition to the college’s leadership team.”

Felton’s research interests include insect-pest interactions, the physiological mode of action of natural plant products, oxidative stress and insect biology, and nutritional physiology. He has received research grants from a wide range of agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Science Foundation. He also holds patents for ultraviolet protectants against insect pathogens and for the use of insect glucose oxidase as an elicitor of plant resistance.

Felton earned his bachelor’s degree in biological science from the University of California, Irvine in 1975. He earned a master’s degree in entomology from the University of Kentucky in 1983 and received his doctorate in entomology from the University of California, Davis in 1988.

He was a postdoctoral associate in the entomology department at the University of California, Davis, before joining the University of Arkansas as assistant professor of entomology in 1990. He was named associate professor in 1994 and full professor in 1999.

Felton has published more than 40 refereed articles, eight book chapters, and many other publications. He has presented numerous invited lectures and serves on the editorial board for the Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology.

He was invited speaker and moderator for the Gordon Conference on Insect-Plant Interactions in 1998 and chaired the plenary session for the Keystone Symposium “Signals and Signal Perception in Biotic Interactions in Plants” in 2000.

Felton is a panel member of the National Science Foundation Physiological and Evolutionary Physiology Program. In 1998, he served as panel manager for the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Research Initiative for Entomology/Nematology.

He is a member of Gamma Sigma Delta, the honorary agricultural fraternity, and received the Gamma Sigma Delta Award for Distinction in Research Accomplishments in 1998. His excellence in teaching and advising has been recognized by two University of Arkansas Teaching Academy Awards.

Felton and his wife, Colleen, have two children, an 18-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter.