Aggie Women Lead: Dean Linda Nagel of the Quinney College of Natural Resources

Editor’s Note: As part of a series, Utah State Today is publishing profiles of a variety of leaders. This interview with Quinney College of Natural Resources Dean Linda Nagel is in observation of March as Women’s History Month.

Linda Nagel came to USU in 2022 to lead the Quinney College of Natural Resources after seven years as professor and head in the Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship at Colorado State University.

Nagel has 24 years of experience as a university professor, with faculty and leadership positions at Colorado State University, the University of Minnesota and Michigan Technological University.

Utah State Today: At what age did you know you wanted to enter your current field and leadership role? What sparked your initial interest in your field?

Linda Nagel: I grew up on a farm, in a very rural part of South Dakota. I essentially spent the first part of my life out-of-doors, and those spaces became a core part of who I am today. That first curiosity for the natural world has really carried me through my career, both as a scientist and as an educator.

I always knew that I wanted to go to college, but as the first person in my family to earn a university degree, I needed to figure out a lot of things about the experience as I went along. I didn’t really know, going into it, all the academic options available to someone who wanted to study the natural world. So I explored a bit and changed trajectory as I went.

UST: Were there specific individuals or events that inspired and influenced your career choices?

LN: I went to college about a hundred miles from where I grew up. I had literally never been out of the state before. My first trip out of South Dakota was as a freshman in college — a band trip. I played the clarinet in the marching band and we performed during halftime at a Vikings football game in Minneapolis.

My undergraduate degree was a vitally important first step in my career, helping me to understand the options for someone who wanted to be a scientist and offering a peek into what I needed to do and to know entering the field. That degree was in biology, which was a fabulous experience. In that program I discovered that one could study trees, which was a particular interest of mine. That led me to learning that one could actually be paid to work in a forest, which blew my mind.

UST: Was there a major influence that got you down the path you are currently on?

LN: As an undergraduate I had a job as a work-study student in a plant physiology lab, where I was able to conduct experiments from start to finish on prairie coneflowers and soybeans both in the lab and in the field. I made some mistakes, learned from them, and built lots of new skills. That experience and the people I worked with were instrumental in building confidence in becoming a scientist. The professor I worked for strongly encouraged me to apply to graduate school. That was tremendously important to me as a shy farm kid and first-generation college student, to have someone believe I could successfully complete something that seemed so lofty. He encouraged me to create that future for myself.

That professor also told me to get out there and get some life and academic experience somewhere beyond my home state. So right after I completed my undergraduate degree as a young mother, I applied to graduate school, was accepted, and started diving deep into the study of forests and ecological systems.

UST: What is some advice you have been given that helped you on your journey? What advice would you give to other young people who are aspiring to follow their passion?

LN: Much of the work I have done during my career, although largely rooted in forestry, has focused on people. Many of my successes are directly attributable to opportunities where I learned how to effectively lead teams. Today we face such a polarized world, it’s hard to find middle ground. It is a skill set in itself and involves knowing how to build trust in groups and how to build effective partnerships.

Advice I often offer young people is to learn how to value different perspectives while working on skills to find that middle ground. Every organization is stronger as it welcomes more diverse perspectives, and the people who can make that happen, who understand the people part of every challenge, will be asked to be leaders and help lead positive change.

UST: What is a major project or initiative you are currently working on in your current field and leadership role?

LN: We are really excited to be establishing a new Utah Forest Restoration Institute at the university, which will serve as a hub to share science on forest health, fuel dynamics, and pre- and post-fire treatments for all types of land ownership across Utah forests and woodlands. The institute will convene collaborative workshops, trainings and conferences that bring together scientists, managers and decision-makers to develop management solutions for the future. This is a great example of the network and team building I mentioned earlier.

UST: What inspired you about your current field (or position) and leadership role?

LN: I love forestry and natural resources, and I love what we do in the Quinney College of Natural Resources. What keeps me going is believing in the work we all do, and that it matters. We have an impact on the environment and our communities because we care about them.

Some of the research I do is about building resilience in forest ecosystems — managing forests so they can better withstand wildfires and can bounce back strong after a disturbance, even under rapidly changing conditions. Many people in our college do similar types of work. It isn’t about scientists working alone but about developing projects that draw in everyone involved, working together to identify issues and develop solutions together, which is very powerful.