Elizabeth (Lisa) D. Earle
ELIZABETH (LISA) D. EARLE (BS '59 Swarthmore; PhD '64 Harvard) is a professor in the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). She has been a faculty member at Cornell since 1979. From 1993 through 2001 she was chair of the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics. She works on genetic improvement of crop plants via cell culture and gene transfer, with emphasis on vegetable crops such as broccoli and onions. In collaborative research she is examining ways to ensure that insect-resistant transgenic crops are used appropriately. She teaches several courses related to plant tissue culture and plant biotechnology.
Professor Earle began serving her term as faculty-elected trustee on July 1, 2002. She is a member of the Finance, Academic Affairs, Alumni Affairs and Development, and Trustee-Community Communications Committees. She is also a member of the Subcommittee on Faculty Development. Additionally, Professor Earle led the campus-elected Trustee Nominating Committee as its chairperson from 2003 to 05.
She is currently a member of the University Faculty Committee (the executive committee of Cornell's Faculty Senate), the General Committee of the Graduate School, the Plant Cell and Molecular Biology Program, and the steering committee of the BK21 program linking CALS and Seoul National University. She also serves as director of graduate studies for the graduate field of plant breeding. She has been an at-large member of the University Faculty Senate, SUNY faculty senator for CALS, and a member of the CALS Advisory Group on Agricultural Biotechnology. She has also served on the Faculty Advisory Committee on Tenure Appointments (FACTA), the CALS plant science curriculum committee, the ad hoc Committee on Faculty Governance, and University and CALS Task Forces on Graduate Education, as well as faculty senator from the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics.
She was an editor of the journal Plant Cell Reports from 1986 to 2004. She received a B.A. from Swarthmore College in 1959 and a PhD degree in biology from Harvard University in 1964.