On January 25, 2021, Tarleton State University inducted Dr. Barry Lambert as the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Lambert has held the interim role since the fall of 2021. Before taking on this position, he served as the Associate Dean of the college and Associate Vice President for Research. 

Lambert grew up in Tolar, Texas and came to Tarleton State University as a freshman in 1992. It is at Tarleton where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Animal Science and his masters degree in Biology. During his masters, he was able to work in the biology department and it was then that he discovered his love for teaching. 

This influence pushed him to pursue a PhD in Animal Science at Kansas State, he then came back to Texas and worked at Baylor College of Medicine until he was offered a position at Tarleton in 2003. Lambert gladly accepted the invitation to work at the university of his alma mater and has been here ever since.

In his twenty years at Tarleton, Lambert has received many teaching and research awards, published and presented his work in articles and at conferences, and has obtained almost $20 million in research funding for the university.

Through his many different roles of administration at Tarleton, he knew that something was missing. 

“Talking to students, working with students, teaching… I also wasn’t able to do any research at all and I felt disconnected to the student part of the university,” Lambert said.

Organizations, community service, and research are all different ways to get involved outside of the lecture hall. Lambert stresses the importance of doing something outside of the classroom that connects you to your field of choice, and research is a great way to do that. 

“Research is one of the ways to teach students outside of the classroom,” Lambert said. 

Not only can students develop strong relationships with their professors outside of the classroom, but “you can see why you are learning what you are learning,” Lambert said. 

As a faculty member, Lambert expressed that it is  very hard to achieve your goals in research without the students, and students can in-turn be exposed to many different aspects of their educational field and be exposed to different opportunities.

Some of the things that Lambert hopes to do as Dean of the College of Agriculture is to reconnect better with alumni and stay connected through social media. He hopes to also grow the college and strengthen our foundation as an agriculture based school.

New degree programs are being introduced, including a PhD in Animal and Natural Resource Sciences, which is the first PhD for the college and the second PhD offered at Tarleton State University.

Lambert loves the people and community at Tarleton. One of the things that makes Tarleton the place to be is that it is such a “close knit, student focused place,” Lambert said. 

Tarleton has such a big impact on the community and economy of Stephenville and vice versa, by providing jobs and Tarleton students exert their service to the community. 

President James Hurley also has a big influence on fueling the creativity and goals of the colleges at Tarleton. 

“That’s probably the most exciting thing for me right now- that Dr. Hurley has said, ‘see those walls, forget those walls, we might not be able to accomplish all of your goals, but let’s sit down and talk about them, ” Lambert said. He is excited to be able to present some new ideas to the staff and push them to dream big.