The University of Wyoming welcomes Professor John Derek Scasta, director of the Laramie Research and Extension Center, as interim director of UW Extension.
Prior to his current role as director of the Laramie R&E Center, Scasta served as UW Extension’s rangeland management specialist for more than a decade. He will assume his interim appointment with UW Extension Monday, April 27, following the departure of current director Mandy Marney.
“On behalf of the College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources, I want to extend my sincere gratitude to Dr. Mandy Marney for her dedicated leadership and service as our associate dean and UW Extension director,” says Kelly Crane, Farm Credit Services of America Dean in the College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources. “At the same time, I am pleased to welcome Dr. Derek Scasta as the interim associate dean and UW Extension director.”
As part of the national land-grant university system, UW Extension provides lifelong learning opportunities for Wyoming residents through county and statewide programming. Housed within the College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources, UW Extension serves communities across the state with the support of federal, state, and county funding.
As UW Extension’s interim director, Scasta will support personnel in county offices across the state in addition to working with college leadership and campus-based specialists.
“Derek is exceptionally well qualified for this role, bringing more than a decade of experience serving Wyoming as UW’s Extension rangeland specialist, and more recently, as the director of the Laramie Research and Extension Center,” Dean Crane comments. “Derek’s deep commitment to serving Wyoming communities and his demonstrated successes in extension make him an excellent choice to lead UW Extension during this transition.”
Scasta entered the extension system in 2004 after graduating from Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in rangeland ecology and management.
As a county agent in west Texas, Scasta not only fielded questions from agricultural producers, but also coordinated 4-H events like county fair and contributed to community-based initiatives outside his area of academic training.
As he learned from personal experience, “Extension is here to help address local needs. I realized I had this obligation to local folks to be available, accountable, and to have integrity. It’s really about listening to people, identifying what the problems are, and trying to solve those problems.”
Scasta earned a master’s in crop science from Texas Tech University in 2008, followed by a PhD in natural resource ecology and management at Oklahoma State University, with the goal of becoming an extension specialist.
In 2014, Scasta accepted a rangeland management specialist position at UW, a role that also included teaching and research responsibilities. In 2024, he was named director of the Laramie R&E Center.
While he will continue to mentor UW students and conduct research, Scasta welcomes the opportunity to return to extension as interim director. In addition to supporting county educators, he looks forward to strengthening relationships with stakeholders across the state, from community organizations and state agencies to legislators and industry partners.
“Extension is fundamentally about people, relationships, communities, and extending the resources of UW to all corners of the state to help solve problems and enhance quality of life,” Scasta notes. “That resonates with me because I care about the people and communities of Wyoming.”
Scasta can be contacted at jscasta@uwyo.edu or (307) 766-5124.
