Sandy Rikoon, a Curators’ Distinguished Professor of rural sociology in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, is one of four Mizzou faculty members selected as 2013-2014 Southeastern Conference (SEC) Academic Leadership Development Program fellows.

The SEC Academic Leadership Development Program (ALDP) is a professional development program that seeks to identify, prepare and advance academic leaders for roles within SEC institutions and beyond. The program has two components: a university-level development program designed by each institution for its own participants and two SEC workshops for all program participants. The four from MU will join 41 other faculty from other SEC universities.

The SEC ALDP, established in 2008, fosters academic leadership among SEC faculty by allowing them opportunities to address the challenges of academic administration at major research universities.

Rikoon is also associate dean for research and graduate studies, College of Human and Environmental Sciences. He is the director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security at MU, the only university center in the U.S. that integrates education, research and outreach activities on domestic food security.

His research focuses on diverse aspects of food, environmental problems and public policy issues in the Midwestern U.S. and Eastern Europe. He has directed numerous survey research and contract projects for state and federal agencies, as well as for non-governmental organizations on various food security topics.

Rikoon earned his Ph.D. at Indiana University.  In 2002 he received a William T. Kemper Fellowships for Teaching Excellence, one of the highest teaching awards at MU.