Michael D Toews
Associate Dean for Extension, Professor Office of the Associate Dean for Extension Entomology
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Dr. Michael Toews (Toews rhymes with Dave’s) is the Associate Dean for Extension in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia. He leads a statewide team of more than 1000 Georgia Cooperative Extension faculty and staff representing 4-H youth development, family and consumer sciences, and agricultural and natural resources. A Kansas native, Dr. Toews earned a BS in biology at Fort Hays State University followed by an MS and PhD in entomology at Oklahoma State University.
Following post-doctoral fellowships at Kansas State University and the USDA-ARS, he joined the faculty at the University of Georgia in 2006 as a research entomologist with responsibilities in insect ecology and integrated pest management. Dr. Toews subsequently acquired state Extension specialist responsibilities for stored product entomology, graduate teaching responsibilities, and a Co-director role at the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health. As a faculty member, he served on 26 graduate student committees, mentored 6 post docs, published 112 peer reviewed manuscripts, and secured more than $21 M in extramural grant funding.
From 2020 to 2025, Dr. Toews served as the Assistant Dean-UGA Tifton Campus where he collaborated with faculty to boost graduate student enrollment by 48%, post-doctoral scholars by 57%, research expenditures by 46%, and grant dollars awarded by 55%. Additionally, he catalyzed initiatives to modernize campus infrastructure including domestic and fire protection water supply, information technology, field research services, research laboratories, and the Tifton Campus Conference Center.