Andy Vail ’95 has been appointed assistant dean and senior director for the Office of Capital Projects and Facilities Services in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), effective Nov. 1. He was promoted from his previous position as senior director in that office.
“Andy’s extensive background in various administrative and leadership roles across Cornell and CALS – coupled with his loyalty, passion to support the college mission and commitment to self-development and lifelong learning – have been keys to his success,” said Peter Paradise, associate dean of CALS’ Office of Finance and Administration and Andy’s direct supervisor. “This promotion is well-deserved.”
In his new role, Vail will continue to provide leadership for the planning, development and execution of CALS’ capital plan, which typically ranges from $20 million to $50 million annually, with funds coming from the State University of New York system, CALS and other external entities. He will assume new leadership responsibilities to support Cornell AgriTech’s administrative functions, in collaboration with Jan Nyrop, the Goichman Family Director of Cornell AgriTech. Vail will provide senior leadership to facilities directors and managers for the college’s 500 buildings, 17,000 stewarded acres and approximately 70 full-time employees.
In 2010 Vail joined the School of Integrative Plant Science as senior administrative director, and for the past two years, he has led the Office of Capital Projects and Facilities Services as senior director. During his time at CALS, Vail led the effort to combine the administrative and financial operations of five departments into a single organizational structure to support the formation of the School of Integrative Plant Science. He also helped create and oversee the CALS grant proposal team, which has grown over 10 years into the Office of Sponsored Research and will soon serve all CALS principal investigators. In further support of researchers, he worked with CALS leadership to create the Office of Research Development. In addition, he has worked closely with the team responsible for Plant Science Building renovation, which is set to begin in late 2022.
Vail also has been an integral part of planning around the COVID pandemic. He served on the CALS Incident Management Team, which worked through issues of going remote, research reactivation and planning for 2020-21 student return to campus, and he oversaw efforts to ensure facilities were as safe as possible for teaching and research.
Prior to joining CALS, Vail served in operations and administrative leadership roles for the College of Architecture, Art and Planning and the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
Vail was honored with the CALS Core Value Staff Award in 2017 and with the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service in 2018.
“My entire career has been in higher education,” Vail said. “And my driving motivation is to provide support for our faculty, staff and students in a way that allows them to focus on excellence in research, teaching and extension, and to create and support an environment that enables success. I look forward to continuing that service for CALS in this new appointment.”
