Dixie Watts Dalton
- Director, Center for Economic Education at Virginia Tech
- OMALS Agribusiness Concentration Coordinator, CALS
Photo by Normand Adams
Blacksburg, VA 24061
I developed and lead the agribusiness concentration in the Online Master of Agricultural and Life Sciences degree in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. I also play a key lead role with the department's Online Master of Agricultural and Applied Economics and I proudly serve as the director of the Virginia Tech Center for Economic Education. My dedication to program innovation, leadership, and teaching excellence was honored with the 2024 AAEA Award for Outstanding Graduate Teaching.
Expertise: Agribusiness. agritourism, professional M.S. online program
Education:
- Ph.D., Economics, Duke University
- M.S., Agricultural Economics, Virginia Tech
- B.S., Agricultural Economics, Virginia Tech
Courses taught:
- AAEC 3984 Cooperatives and Their Impact on the Human Condition
- AAEC 4204 Food and Agricultural Policy
- AAEC 5034 Agribusiness Marketing Policy and Business Strategies
- AAEC 5054 Strategic Agribusiness Management
- AAEC 5074 Agricultural and Food Policy
Dixie began her career in 1993 as an assistant professor and Extension specialist in Virginia Tech's Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. She focused on undergraduate teaching and advising, served a term as undergraduate coordinator, and conducted Extension programming on tobacco economics and agribusiness marketing. She was promoted to associate professor in 1999. For her contributions to the department, college, and university, she was awarded both the Alumni Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Alumni Award for Excellence in Advising in 2003 and earned the award for outstanding undergraduate teaching (more than ten years) from the American Association of Agricultural Economics (AAEA). For her contributions to the industry, she received awards from the Virginia Farm Bureau, the Virginia Agribusiness Council, and the Association of Cooperative Educators.
In 2010, she returned to her home county of Lunenburg to take a position at Southside Virginia Community College, where she developed and led the college's new agribusiness program. In 2015, she was named SVCC's Dean of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Business, a role she held until the fall of 2021.
At that time, she returned to Virginia Tech's Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics to develop and lead the agribusiness concentration in the college's online master's degree. She also accepted a leadership role in the department’s online master’s degree and co-chairmanship of the Virginia Tech Center for Economic Education. For her program and course development, leadership of the online graduate degrees, and outstanding teaching and advising, she was awarded the 2024 AAEA’s award for outstanding graduate teaching (more than ten years).