Dr. Todd Petty

Dean of the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia

Dr. Todd Petty currently serves as Dean of the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia. Prior to starting at UGA in August 2024, Dr. Petty was a professor and chair of the department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation at Clemson University (2020-2024). While at Clemson, Dr. Petty oversaw significant increases in undergraduate and graduate student enrollment and a 10-fold increase in external grants and contracts from $2M to $20M annually. Dr. Petty spent the bulk of his career (1999-2020) as a professor in the department of forest resources at West Virginia University, where he taught and conducted research in the areas of water quality, watershed science, and fisheries ecology. His research team focuses on restoration, conservation and building climate resiliency within Appalachian River systems. While at WVU, Dr. Petty also served five years as the associate dean for academic affairs in the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design. In his role as associate dean, Dr. Petty coordinated college-wide undergraduate and graduate curricula, student services and advising, and student recruitment. Dr. Petty earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia (1990) and an MS (1994) and PhD (1998) from the Warnell School at UGA. After graduating from UVA and before returning to graduate school, Dr. Petty worked as a fisheries biologist on the Chesapeake Bay for the states of Maryland and Virginia. Todd and his wife, Tricia Petty, have been married for 33 years and live in the Normaltown neighborhood of Athens, GA. They have two sons, Jeffrey (26) and Charlie (22), both of whom enjoy beating Todd at golf whenever they can.