Director Named for School of Packaging

August 21, 2009

Joseph H. Hotchkiss has been named director of the MSU School of Packaging in CANR and the inaugural director of the planned Center for Packaging Innovation and Sustainability.

Joseph H. Hotchkiss, former chairperson of the Cornell University Department of Food Science, has been named director of the MSU School of Packaging in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) and the inaugural director of the planned Center for Packaging Innovation and Sustainability. His appointment was approved by the MSU Board of Trustees at its Sept. 11 meeting and becomes effective Oct. 1.

Hotchkiss succeeds Sue Selke, who had served as acting director of the school since July 2007; Mark Uebersax, who served as transition director from January to July 2007; and Sara Risch, who served as director from 2004 to 2006.

"I am excited to have Joe Hotchkiss join our faculty to provide vision and direction to our packaging programs," said Jeffrey D. Armstrong, CANR dean. "Under his leadership, we will build upon the School of Packaging's long-standing preeminence within the industry and develop the new Center for Packaging Innovation and Sustainability to provide a platform for collaboration between industry partners and university scientists addressing sustainable packaging practices."

Hotchkiss joined the Cornell faculty in the Department of Food Science in 1980, taught a broad range of courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and was faculty thesis adviser to more than 45 graduate students. He participated in a variety of Extension outreach activities, and he has an extensive research portfolio focused on the safety, nutrition and packaging of food. He holds five patents related to his research. Hotchkiss also served as chair of the department and director of the Cornell Institute of Food Science (2002?07), and he was a science adviser for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (1999?2003).

He has been a consultant to a wide variety of food products, packaging and consumer goods corporations as well as the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. He has also served on committees within many local, state and federal governmental agencies and industry organizations, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Food Technologists and the American Council on Science and Health.

During his nearly 30-year career at Cornell, Hotchkiss was published in more than 150 peer-reviewed journals. He served on the editorial boards of six scientific periodicals and was an editor of two editions of Food and Packaging Interactions, for which he received both the "700 Club" and Platinum book awards from the American Chemical Society. He also co-authored the textbook Food Science (fifth edition). He has been an invited speaker at numerous seminars and symposia in the United States and abroad.

He is a fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists and a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Society of Toxicology. He serves on the Culinary Institute of America Research Advisory Council, the International Life Sciences Institute Advisory Council and the board of scientific advisers for the American Council on Science and Health, and he is a member of the leadership council and a scientific adviser to the International Life Science Institute-North America.

Hotchkiss received both a doctorate in food chemistry and toxicology and a master's degree in food chemistry and organic chemistry from Oregon State University in 1979 and 1977, respectively. He received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Northern Colorado in 1971.