A native of rural Louisiana, Dr. Guedry earned a B.S. in agricultural economics in 1963 from Louisiana State University (LSU); an M.S in agricultural economics in 1965 from the University of Illinois; and a Ph.D. in agricultural economics in 1970 from Oregon State University. His career at LSU covered 33 years; during that time he held positions ranging from Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness to Executive Vice Chancellor of the LSU Agricultural Center. His retirement became effective February 1, 2003.
Joining the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness in 1969, Dr. Guedry held a teaching and research appointment. During his career, his active research interest has been in the area of rural and natural resource development. Research initiatives in rural development focused on the provision of public services and industry impacts within rural areas. Much of this work concentrated on the development of iterative procedures using input-output analysis to isolate the impacts of industrial development on rural economies and identifying community-controlled factors influencing industry location. His research efforts in the provision of public services area resulted in the development of estimates and a model that was used throughout rural Louisiana to justify funding for the development of rural solid-waste disposal systems, allowing many Louisiana communities to meet the requirements of the Clean Water Act during the 1970s and 1980s. Dr. Guedry taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in the department. He was an active advisor of graduate and undergraduate students and undergraduate student organizations within the department and college. Dr. Guedry's interest in graduate and undergraduate education resulted in his being named the Outstanding Professor in the College of Agriculture in 1979 and appointment to numerous student-related committees in the College and University, including service on the following committees: Departmental Graduate, College Courses and Curricula, University Student Code of Conduct, and University High School Relations.
Professional activities included: Editorial Council of the Southern Journal of Agricultural Economics; Editor of the Southern Journal of Agricultural Economics; Southern Agricultural Economics Association (SAEA) Honorary Membership Committee; SAEA Research Awards Committee; Project Reviewer, National Science Foundation-Behavior and Neural Sciences; Alternate, Universities Council on Water Resources; American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA) Employment Services Committee; AAEA Nominating Committee; AAEA Quality of Research Discovery Awards Committee; and Accreditation Review Team Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Texas Tech University. Professional recognitions have included corecipient of the AAEA Quality of Research Discovery Award and thesis advisor-AAEA Outstanding Thesis Award recipient.
Dr. Guedry spent a major part of his career in administrative positions. In 1981, Dr. Guedry was appointed professor and head of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, a position he held for almost 15 years. As department head he provided the leadership for the department to make significant progress toward improving its professional stature. One of the important legacies of his tenure as department head was the increased level of participation by faculty in professional activities. These activities include presentations at meetings of the various professional associations as well as service on committees and as association officers. During his tenure as department head, the department completely revised its undergraduate curricula and course offerings using a zero-based curriculum approach; established a graduate student organization and a faculty advisory committee; developed the first graduate handbook for graduate studies at the university; and established, through grant funding, one of the initial GIS laboratories in an Agricultural Economics department in the United States. He was instrumental in attracting funds to endow a visiting lectureship series and three professorships, the first such endowments in the College of Agriculture. In 1989, the department hosted the AAEA annual meeting on the LSU campus. In 1995, Dr. Guedry was appointed interim associate dean of the College of Agriculture, during which time he was responsible for the academic and fiscal administration of the college, as well as continuing to serve as professor and head of the department. He was appointed Associate Dean and Director of Academic Programs in the College of Agriculture in 1996, a position he held for a year before being appointed Vice Chancellor for Administration in the LSU Agricultural Center in 1997. In this position Dr. Guedry was responsible for the fiscal affairs and day-to-day administrative operations of the AgCenter, which included the statewide programs of the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station and Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service. Dr. Guedry was instrumental in establishing an information technology unit within the AgCenter and overseeing the development of a statewide computer network and distance education system to support AgCenter programs throughout the state of Louisiana. As part of this initiative, the computer infrastructure of the organization was dramatically upgraded, while extension and research faculty and support staff made unprecedented strides programmatically integrating these technologies as a functional component of their programs. In 2001, Dr. Guedry was appointed Executive Vice Chancellor of the LSU Agricultural Center. In this position he was given the responsibility to provide leadership for the organizational restructuring of the AgCenter to facilitate the interface between extension and research programs. The overall restructuring was completed in 2002. This initiative has resulted in enhanced coordination of all administrative, academic, and programmatic activities, elimination of duplicative administrative functions and positions, increased joint extension/research grant submissions, development of common faculty ranks between research and extension, and enhanced communication between extension and research personnel.
Dr. Guedry is married to the former Ann Vosburg. They have two children, Leigh and Gretchen, and three grandchildren.
Copyright Southern Journal of Agricultural Economics Aug 2003