Professor, Arid Lands Resources Sciences - GIDP | Professor, Agriculture Education | Member of the Graduate Faculty | Endowed Professor, Neely Family
Dr. Torres is a professor and Department Head of Agricultural Education, Technology & Innovation and holds the Neely Family Endowed Professorship in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) at the University of Arizona (UA). Before accepting his current faculty and administrative role, Bobby spent nine years at NMSU and eight years at the University of Missouri (MU). In addition to his current administrative duties, he serves as a student advisor and faculty mentor. He has taught/teaches undergraduate courses in teaching methodologies, organizational leadership, and graduate courses in research methodologies, program evaluation, and data analysis and interpretation. He has received numerous teaching awards and recognitions, including the prestigious USDA Excellence in College and University Teaching Award, Western Region of the American Association of Agricultural Education (AAAE) Distinguished Teaching Award, The North Central Region of AAAE Outstanding Educator Award, the William T. Kemper Fellow for Excellence in Teaching (MU), Gold Chalk Award (MU), College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources (CAFNR) Teaching Academy Fellow (MU), Faculty Achievement Award (NMSU), the NACTA Teaching Award of Merit, the Outstanding New Member (AAAE), and the Outstanding Undergraduate Advising Award (CAFNR), and was inducted as a CALS Cardon Academy for Teaching Excellence Fellow (UA) and inducted as a Fellow of AAAE. He was recently recognized as the 2017 Bobcat Outstanding Faculty Member Award (UA) and the Arizona CTE Post-Secondary Educator of the Year Award. In 2018, he was recognized as the Outstanding Departmental Alumni in Agricultural and Extension Education, NMSU. With over 100 refereed publications, Dr. Torres researches in the areas of teaching and learning within agricultural education and has generated over $7 million in total funding from grants and contracts. Moreover, he has earned several recognitions for the quality of his research, including the Journal of Agricultural Education - Author of the Year Award, the Outstanding Article Award for the Journal of Vocational Education Research, the Jack Everly Journal Award – NACTA Journal, and several research presentation awards at the regional and national level of the American Association for Agricultural Education. He was recognized with the Western Region AAAE Distinguished Research Award. In 2018, Dr. Torres participated in the USDA Kika De La Garza Fellowship Program in Washington, D.C., and is currently a participant of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities' Food Systems Leadership Institute, Cohort 15. Bobby also has served as a member of the National FFA Organization Board of Directors and a past Board (and executive committee) member of the FFA Board of Trustees. Additionally, he served as Chair of The Agricultural Education Magazine Editing-Managing Board. He is currently a member of the Arizona Skills Commission for Career and Technical Education and a member of the Arizona Agricultural Education/FFA Foundation Board of Trustees. Dr. Torres currently serves on The Council for Agricultural Education and Vice President for the Division of Agricultural Education, the Board of the Association for Career and Technical education.