Feb. 2, 2021

Proctor, Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station professor emeritus in food science, named visiting professor at Suffolk

By Robby Edwards, Director of Communications
Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Fast facts

• Emeritus food science professor Andy Proctor appointed visiting professor at University of Suffolk.
• Proctor conducted research with Agricultural Experiment Station from 1993-2019.
• Proctor will coordinate new international academic programs.

(430 words)

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Andy Proctor, university professor emeritus with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station and Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Science's department of food science, has been appointed to a visiting professor position at the University of Suffolk in the United Kingdom.

INTERNATIONAL — Emeritus food science professor Andy Proctor patented a process that uses intense UV light to enhance cooking oil with conjugated lineolic acid, providing nutritional benefits. He began an appointment as visiting professor at the University of Suffolk in Oct. 2020. He will coordinate new international academic programs between the United Kingdom, European Union and the United States. (U of A System Division of Agriculture file photo by Fred Miller)

Proctor will assist in teaching, directing food science research and coordinating new international academic programs between the United Kingdom, European Union and the United States.

His appointment with the University of Suffolk's School of Engineering, Arts, Science and Technology began in October and runs through September 2023.

"I anticipate assisting in developing the new food science program and creating new international transatlantic and European research and educational experiences," said Proctor. "Hopefully we can develop new opportunities for U of A and Bumpers College to gain international academic and professional experiences in food, health and ag business in Suffolk, which has major food and agriculture sectors."

Proctor, who retired in 2019, joined the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture faculty in 1993 as associate professor of lipid chemistry with the Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the Division of Agriculture. He was promoted to full professor in 2002 and University Professor in 2013.

He taught lipid chemistry and U.S. food law, and conducted research in lipid chemistry and agricultural co-products utilization. His later lipid chemistry research focused on increasing the nutritional value of vegetable oils by enhancing conjugated linoleic acid levels in oil by catalysis. Proctor has three patents on this novel technology. He also developed technology for extraction of silicate and carbon from rice hull ash, which was commercialized by the rice industry.

Proctor has more than 120 peer reviewed publications and for 20 years served as either associate editor or senior associate editor for the Journal of America Oil Chemists' Society. In 2015, Proctor was the Fulbright-Austria Visiting Professor in Natural Sciences at the Institute of Chemistry at the University of Graz, Austria. He is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Chemistry and the American Oil Chemists' Society.

Proctor has been active in nurturing European Union-U.S. international programs by serving as U.S. director of two inter-disciplinary E.U.-U.S. Atlantis Programs in "biorenewables and green technology" funded by the U.S. Department of Education (2004-09) (2008-13). He facilitated student exchanges and international short courses with colleagues at Austrian, Belgian, French and U.S. universities, a partnership that continues today. He also served as director of Bumpers College's international programs.

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uark.edu. Follow us on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch and Instagram at ArkAgResearch.

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.

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences:

Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture. For more information about Bumpers College, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter at @BumpersCollege and Instagram at BumpersCollege.

Media Contact: Nick Kordsmeier
U of A System Division of Agriculture
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station
(479) 575-6368
nkordsme@uark.edu

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