Dr. James O Bukenya

James O. Bukenya is a respected Agricultural and Applied Economics Professor and Founding Director of the Office of Research Compliance at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (AAMU). He also serves as Coordinator of International Programs in the College of Agricultural, Life, and Natural Sciences at AAMU. He was a Visiting Professor of Economics at Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China, from 2013 through 2015. He received a B.S. in Agribusiness Management and a Masters in Agribusiness from AAMU (1997/1998) and a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics (2001) from West Virginia University. Professor Bukenya is a certified Compliance and Ethics Professional by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE).

As a researcher, Professor Bukenya has secured research grants in the amount of over $20 million. His national and international research portfolio has focused on analyzing community food security and nutrition, consumer preferences for novel food technologies, value chain and value-added analysis, risk management, and the economics of silvopasture systems. He has authored and co-authored over 110 peer-reviewed publications, four book chapters, and reviews and presented at over 130 professional meetings, some of which he has helped organize. Professor Bukenya has mentored and advised numerous undergraduate and graduate research students, several of whom are Ph.D. recipients. 

Professor Bukenya’s international experience includes research and teaching activities in Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Costa Rica, Brazil, China, Ukraine, and the USA. He has coordinated various training programs for extension specialists and industry managers from Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Gabon under the Borlaug, Cochran, and Young African Leaders Fellowship programs and spearheaded the implementation of an extensive Training-of-the-Trainer program for extension specialists at SACDEP-Kenya. His professional and community service activities have included Advisory Council Membership on the Alabama Farmers’ Market Authority, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), and the North Alabama Food Policy Council; he also serves on several journals' Editorial Boards. 

He has received numerous recognitions, including the Jiangsu Government High-End Foreign Experts Award from the Chinese Government, the B.D. Mayberry Young Scientist Award from the Association of 1890 Research Directors, twice recognized as Outstanding Researcher at AAMU, and received the E.B. Carmichael Award for Outstanding Journal Article from the Alabama Academy of Science. 

Professor Bukenya’s current professional memberships include the Gamma Sigma Delta, the National Honor Society of Agriculture and Forestry, the 1890 Foundation, the Applied Agricultural Economics Association, the Southern Agricultural Economics Association, the Southern Rural Sociological Association, the Regional Science Association, the World Aquaculture Society, the International Institute of Fisheries Economics & Trade, and International Association of Agricultural Economics.