Greg Yarrow, Interim Dean

Greg Yarrow was named acting dean of Clemson University’s College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences (CAFLS) on August 14, 2023 and is now serving in an interim capacity. As interim dean, Yarrow continues to collaborate with associate deans of academic affairs, research, and outreach and engagement to support CAFLS’s land-grant mission of teaching, research, and outreach. As such, he ensures CAFLS remains focused on founder Thomas Green Clemson’s vision of a high seminary of learning designed to address the needs of the state of South Carolina and its citizens.

Yarrow works to support a culture of cooperation among the college’s tripart mission, which strives to prepare students to become leaders in their field, leverage state-wide infrastructure of research and Extension to improve the health and livelihoods of South Carolinians, and promote a state agribusiness industry with a $51.8 billion annual impact. Likewise, Yarrow promotes and strengthens partnerships with state and federal agencies including the S.C Department of Health and Environmental Control, S.C. Department of Natural Resources, S.C. Department of Agriculture, S.C. Forestry Commission, Forestry Association of S.C., S.C. Farm Bureau, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

A certified wildlife biologist by The Wildlife Society, Yarrow has worked as a professor of wildlife ecology at Clemson since 1988. He previously served as chair of the Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation from 2012 to 2019. His Extension and outreach activities have included developing and delivering educational programs in wildlife conservation in managed systems (forestry and agricultural production), mitigating human-wildlife conflicts through wildlife damage management techniques, and maintaining and enhancing biodiversity in managed landscapes for audiences such as private landowners, natural resource professionals, government officials, public policy makers, and the general public.

Yarrow is a longstanding member of the Society of American Foresters and The South Carolina Chapter of the Wildlife Society, for which he previously served as president. Yarrow is the author of numerous publications, including the book Managing Wildlife. And in 2020, he received the Thomas Green Clemson Award for his impact on students and his contributions to Clemson University.

Prior to joining Clemson in 1988, Yarrow served as an Extension Specialist for the Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service at Mississippi State University. Yarrow holds a Bachelor of Science in biology from the University of Southern Mississippi, a Master of Science in wildlife ecology from Mississippi State University, and a Doctor of Forestry from Stephen F. Austin State University.