2011 Fall Semester in Review

Written by · December 8, 2011

Another busy semester comes to a close at MU’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resource and it was marked by college, alumni and student successes!

The CAFNR Comes Home event was the perfect opportunity for alumni, parents, friends, faculty, staff and students to celebrate their CAFNR pride, see the MU and CAFNR campus, enjoy delicious CAFNR food and hear from Dean Tom Payne. More than 500 people came to the event held Homecoming weekend.

This year marked the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism’s launch of their successful new emphasis area, Sport Management. The emphasis already has more than 200 students enrolled in the program and that number could potentially double in the next year. Similarly, the Department of Hospitality Management, renamed this year from Hotel and Restaurant Management, launched their successful new emphasis area, Sport Venue Management, which focuses applying management skills to sport settings such as arenas and stadium. The degree program in agricultural journalism was changed to Science and Agricultural Journalism, to continue to provide unique opportunities for students, combining courses in the School of Journalism with tracks in: Food and Wine, Ag Marketing, Conservation and Environmental Studies, Ag Science and now Science Journalism.


CAFNR alums gave us plenty of reasons to be proud! Alum Edwin Turner was the 2011 recipient of the 56th Annual Distinguished Service Award from the Mizzou Alumni Association. Meanwhile John Grace was the recipient of the Alumni Association’s 2011 Missouri Tiger Pride Award and Susan Combs was honored with the Alumni Association’s 2011 Regional Mizzou G.O.L.D. award. Eric Wise, an SNR graduate and meteorologist, was recognized for warning the citizens of Joplin, Mo., twenty minutes before the devastating tornado.

In September, CAFNR Alum Brent McCauley embarked on an expedition with his friend, Michael Hunter, to climb the highest point in every state while cycling the country. The two are using only their physical power to travel the 25,000-plus miles and climb each peak all in an effort to raise money for the non-profit organization Big City Mountaineers.

CAFNR Food Science Association students collaborated for the greater good by helping a Columbia-based non-profit group, and a wounded Marine veteran, pack care packages for Marines stationed overseas. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Fenner, a food science graduate student, is finishing testing of an experimental ice cream that starts as one flavor then shifts to another before being swallowed. CAFNR junior Carah Hart was this year’s recipient of a $5,000 farm broadcasting scholarship awarded by the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB).

CAFNR’s Sigma Alpha Sorority, an agriculture sorority, chapter was honored with six 2011 national awards.  The 2011 MU Dairy Products Evaluation Team placed in the 90th Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation Contest.

CAFNR’s Delta Center celebrated its 50th Field Day and its long-time supervisor, Thomas “Jake” Fisher. The center is now renamed T.E. “Jake” Fisher Delta Research Center. More than 3,000 people attended the South Farm Showcase and experienced hay rides, negotiated corn and straw bale mazes and watched sawmill and wood chopping demonstrations.

Professor of Agronomy Bill Wiebold and Adjunct Professor of Plant Science Hari Krishnan were honored as 2011 Fellows of CSSA by the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA). Dr. Seonghee Cho, associate professor in Hospitality Management, received a “best paper” award for her research related to human resource management in the hotel industry.

We are sure the spring semester will brings even more reasons to be proud of all things CAFNR!