By Mary Hightower
U of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture 

TULSA, Okla. – For Evan Jewsbury, his new job as chief human resources officer for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture is something of a homecoming.

Jewsbury joined the Division of Agriculture on May 20 and will be based in Fayetteville. He comes to the Division of Agriculture from Tulsa Community College, where he served as the chief human resources officer. 

"I grew up just over an hour north of Fayetteville," Jewsbury said. "Early in my HR career, I worked in Gravette, Arkansas, so it's nice to return to the state again."

The Division of Agriculture, with its research and extension land-grant mission, joins two major themes in Jewsbury's life: education and agriculture. In addition to working at Tulsa Community College, he served as chief human resources officer for Missouri Southern State University and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M and taught a variety of business and human resource-related courses in the last eight years. 

"I was raised by a family of educators and my wife is also a teacher," Jewsbury said. "All of which have placed a strong focus on the importance of a quality education. Growing up, I had the unique opportunity to witness my relatives who owned and operated their own dairy farm as well as others in the family who were ranchers in Oklahoma."

When he's not in the office, Jewsbury spends time with family and friends in the outdoors hiking, kayaking and camping. Jewsbury and his wife, Nisha, have two boys, age 2 and 7. 

"My family and I could not be more excited about joining the University of Arkansas System family," Jewsbury said. "I am a strong believer in the land-grant mission of the university, particularly because of the high-quality research and extension work being done to support fellow Arkansans, and it is a privilege and honor to serve in this role."

Jewsbury comes to the division with experience in having rebuilt human resources departments and implementing strategic planning and technologies to streamline processes and procedures. All of these changes were made with an eye to increasing customer focus. He was recently selected as one of six to participate in the Emerging Leaders Program of the College and University Professional Association.

Deacue Fields, vice president-agriculture for the University of Arkansas System and head of the Division of Agriculture, said he was eager to see Jewsbury hit the ground running.

"Evan comes to the Division of Agriculture with fresh perspectives and has a lot of big picture ideas about HR should work," Fields said. "We are looking forward to seeing how he applies his experience to enhance how we work with our No. 1 resource: Our people."

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: aaes.uada.edu. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit uada.edu. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.

About the Division of Agriculture: The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture's mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation's historic land grant education system. The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses. The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.