Sean Finnie, the director of the USDA Agriculture Research Service’s Western Wheat Quality Lab who was fired Feb. 13, is back to work.

Finnie received an e-mail from USDA informing him that the termination notice was formally rescinded and his employment with the lab will continue.

The lab is on the Washington State University campus in Pullman. Of four USDA wheat labs in the nation, it has the highest wheat and pulse research and sample through-put, serving Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Montana and Utah.

Olivia Landau, a USDA weed scientist in Pullman who was also among those researchers fired nationwide, has also been reinstated. Landau confirmed her reinstatement to the Capital Press, but declined to comment further.

Capital Press has reached out to USDA communications representatives for further information.

For Finnie, the next steps are “just to continue on what we’re doing with the mission.”

He and research biologist Alecia Kiszonas recently submitted a five-year research plan for the lab for approval.

“Right now, we’re finishing up the previous five-year plan,” Finnie said.

The lab has 20 state and federal employees. Finnie was the only one who was fired.

Kiszonas stepped in following Finnie’s dismissal; she previously stepped in as interim director upon the death of longtime lab director Craig Morris from pancreatic cancer in 2021. Morris was director for 32 years.

Finnie joined the lab in July 2023. He previously worked at the lab as an undergraduate and graduate student, getting his master’s degree under Morris. He started as a dishwasher.
“The characters at the lab really were unique in their approach to research, and helped me develop my approach I have now, which I think is somewhat unique as well,” Finnie told the Capital Press in 2023.

Morris’s biggest lesson to Finnie was curiosity, and a willingness to look at things differently, he said at the time.

“That’s something I didn’t fully appreciate until I started working with other scientists that had more of a traditional view on approaching research,” Finnie said in 2023.

Supporting stakeholders

“One great thing about the ARS group is we’re here to do research for our stakeholders, and we’re outside of any regulatory or policy-making capacity,” Finnie said. “(We) just want to stick to our research.”

“We are beyond pleased that Sean has been reinstated as director of the WWQL,” Washington Grain Commission executive director Casey Chumrau said.

Upon Finnie’s dismissal, the Idaho, Oregon and Washington commissions and WSU were working together to find a “creative way” to retain Finnie and “the important work he does to advance the PNW wheat quality,” Chumrau said.

“He is a unique talent and dedicated to meeting the needs of stakeholders, which is why we felt so strongly about keeping him,” she said.

“We’re here to support the stakeholders in this region,” Finnie said. “We’re committed to fulfill this noble mission that we have with ARS. ARS is a stakeholder-driven research organization, and that means we are here for them. If there are issues they want us to be working on, let us know and we’ll mobilize our resources to come up with solutions.”