Rick Cartwright. (Arkansas Farm Bureau)
A native of Arkansas, Rick Cartwright joined the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture in 1992 after earning his Ph.D in plant pathology from University of California Davis. He earned international recognition as a rice pathologist and served as interim head of the plant pathology department, and then the associate director of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the university.
He was named interim director of extension in 2016 and senior associate vice president for agriculture-extension for the UA Division of Agriculture in 2017. He retired June 30, 2020.
He has earned a number of awards including most recently the John White Outstanding Extension State Education Award in 2000 and received the National Distinguished Rice Research and Education Award in 2004 from the Rice Technical Working Group.