Dr. De’Etra Young serves as the Interim Associate Dean of Academics and Land-grant Programs in the College of Agriculture and an Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at Tennessee State University. Her responsibilities include the coordination, management, implementation of the College of Agriculture’s student retention programs. In this role, De’Etra mentors junior-faculty, directs the undergraduate research program, and advises student organizations. She also co-leads Earth Horizons, an NSF-funded project, with Vanderbilt University to increase minority representation in Geosciences. She is the Project Director for the 1890 Environmental Justice Academy and several other projects to broaden minority participation in the food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences. She is currently the advisor for the Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences (MANRRS), Tennessee State University Chapter. She is also a member of the Metro Nashville Tree Advisory Committee and Nashville Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. Through these efforts, she is consciously raising awareness about the need to increase the number of underrepresented people seeking education in the food, agriculture, natural resources, and related sciences. De’Etra also has doctorate and master’s degrees in Forestry and a bachelor’s degree in Urban Forestry.

De’Etra’s goal is to increase the number of talented and underrepresented students in food, agricultural, and natural resource sciences and equip them with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to become environmental justice advocates in their respective communities. She aims to build an annual Environmental Justice Academy for over students in 35 communities across the country.