Jennie Popp, Associate Dean

As associate dean of the Honors College, Jennie Popp oversees the Honors College fellowship and grant programs, serves as the college’s liaison with the six college-based honors programs, and leads and directs new initiatives in international research and service learning.

Popp is a professor of agricultural economics and agricultural business. She helped to launch service learning on campus by developing the agricultural component of the community development program based in Dangriga, Belize. 

Peace Corps service in West Africa inspired Jennie Popp’s interest in agricultural economics. Her research focuses on managing natural resources to improve soil and water quality and the development and implementation of agricultural and environmental policy. She has published two books and numerous book chapters, journal articles and reports. She has led or contributed to more than $20 million of externally funded research on campus. She has presented her work at professional meetings and conferences throughout the United States. She earned a B.S. degree in economics and finance at the University of Scranton, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in agricultural and resource economics at Colorado State University.

Popp served as a member of the Bumpers College Honors Committee for nearly 10 years. She has directed many honors student theses on topics ranging from assessing women’s roles in Arkansas agriculture to composting food waste from campus residence halls. Many of her students have won awards for their honors research on campus and at the regional and national level. Popp has participated in honors committees within Bumpers College and Fulbright College and until recently, served as “first mentor” to all incoming honors students majoring in agribusiness. She received an Honors College Distinguished Faculty Award in 2011.

In her spare time, Popp enjoys tinkering in her garden, exploring the NWA trail system with her family and cheering on Philadelphia’s professional sports teams.