West Virginia Universitys Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences has appointed three new faculty members to positions in landscape architecture, plant and soil sciences and animal and veterinary sciences.

• Claudia Bernasconi recently accepted the position of assistant professor in landscape architecture.

She received a bachelors degree and masters in architecture from University of Roma Tre in Rome, Italy, and her post-professional masters degree in design from University of La Sapienza, also located in Rome. Her extensive educational and professional experiences have provided her with broad knowledge of the field.

In January 2005, Bernasconi joined the Davis College as a visiting instructor in the nationally-ranked landscape architecture program and was promoted to visiting assistant professor that August. She also serves as a consulting architect for WVU s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

• Yong-Lak Park accepted the position of assistant professor of entomology in the WVU Division of Plant and Soil Sciences.

He earned bachelors and masters degrees in agricultural biology with an emphasis in entomology from Seoul National University in Seoul, Korea. After receiving a doctorate degree in entomology from Iowa State University in 2003, Park became a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Entomology at the University of California Riverside.

His areas of expertise include agricultural and horticultural entomology, integrated pest management, and geospatial technology and spatial database management systems.

• Margaret A. Minch , a 1995 graduate of The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, was selected as a clinical assistant and associate professor of veterinary sciences.

Prior to accepting her faculty position, Minch was an associate veterinarian at Casselman Veterinary Services, Inc. in Grantsville, Md. She has also lectured at Garrett College; completed the Dairy Production Medicine Certificate Course; been a member of Dairy Advisory Teams through Penn State University; and assisted dairy farm clients in developing various management protocols.