Cheryl Smith

Cheryl officially joined UNH Extension in 1993. In addition to her role as state Plant Health specialist, she is also director of the UNH Plant Diagnostic Lab. The UNH-PDL offers diagnostic services to help solve plant health-related problems for both commercial producers and home horticulturists. Diagnostic services include the identification of plant pathogens, environmental disorders, and insect pests, as well as educational information regarding management and prevention. Cheryl's additional responsibilities include delivering outreach educational programs on plant health and providing training in the identification and management of plant diseases and disorders to commercial producers, landscape specialists, Extension staff and home horticulturists. Her current teaching responsibilities focus on Introductory Plant Pathology and guest lectures in several courses offered through the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture. Her focus and passion, is to help producers, landscape specialists and home gardeners produce and maintain healthy plants.

Cheryl received her BA in Biology from Plymouth State College, MS in Plant Pathology and Entomology from the University of Rhode Island, and PhD in Botany and Plant Pathology from the University of New Hampshire. She has been a diagnostic plant pathologist her entire career. Before coming to UNH, she was the diagnostician for the plant diagnostic labs at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY and the University of Rhode Island.