Colleen Abbott, professional development specialist in the agricultural education and leadership program, received an Honorary American FFA Degree at this fall’s National FFA Convention. Honorary American FFA Degree recipients are those who have excelled as agricultural education teachers or those who have served the agriculture industry, agricultural education efforts or FFA programs on a national scale. More information about the award is available at ffa.org/participate/awards/honorary-awards.
Ken Schneeberger, director of CAFNR International Programs, received the CAFNR Proud Award at the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources’ Novemberfest event, Friday, Nov. 16. The award recognizes Schneeberger’s 50 years of service to CAFNR and the University of Missouri. He joined Mizzou in 1968, after finishing his Ph.D. in production economics and agribusiness management at Oklahoma State University. He is a professor emeritus of agricultural economics, and also served as director of CAFNR’s Farms and Centers for 10 years. He has been a mentor to many students, and received the CAFNR Teacher of the Year Award in 1979. Schneeberger also received the college’s Frederick B. Mumford Outstanding Faculty Award in 2003. He has been a co-principal investigator on grants totaling more than $9 million.
Maria Haag, doctoral student in animal sciences, has been selected as the Doctoral Student Marshal for the 2018 December Commencement Ceremony at Mizzou by the Office of Graduate Studies. Haag was selected, along with an Educational Specialist Marshal and a Master’s Marshal, based on academic performance and contributions to MU and the campus community. These students will be honored with a marshal sash, will be recognized in the commencement bulletin and will be the first of those degree candidates to receive their degree during the commencement ceremony. Haag will be hooded by her faculty advisor, Bill Lamberson, director of the Division of Animal Sciences. Commencement ceremonies for the Office of Graduate Studies will be held at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Dec. 14, 2018, in the Hearnes Center.
Nichole Smith, administrative assistant in the School of Natural Resources Office of Academic Programs, received the CAFNR Staff Advisory Council Above and Beyond Award in recognition of her contributions to delivery of student services. She was nominated by Keith Goyne, associate director of the School of Natural Resources. Smith is pictured on the left here, with Jenna Fusinatto of CAFNR Staff Council, and Goyne.
Carol Swaim, agricultural education and leadership program administrative assistant, received the CAFNR Staff Advisory Council Above and Beyond Award in recognition of her exceptional service, flexibility and mentorship of undergraduate student workers. She was nominated by Jon Simonsen, associate professor and department chair, agricultural education and leadership. Swaim is pictured in the middle here, with Simonsen and Jenna Fusinatto of CAFNR Staff Advisory Council.
Pat Westhoff has been named as the newest holder of the Howard Cowden Professorship. Dr. Westhoff is a professor of agricultural and applied economics, and the director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at MU. His contribution to agricultural policy is critical to agricultural cooperatives and their member-owners in Missouri and across the nation. Dr. Westhoff and his FAPRI colleagues also work regularly with congressional staffers and USDA leaders to evaluate proposed agricultural legislation intended to provide farmers with a solid economic footing.
The professorship is named for Howard Cowden, a southwest Missouri native who started his cooperative career with MFA in the 1920s. Later, he formed what would become Farmland Industries. Originally, the coop was named the Union Oil Company in 1929, and it transitioned to being the Consumers Cooperative Association in 1935 before it was called Farmland Industries. Cowden retired in 1961 from his long-held chief executive title. Throughout Cowden’s career, he was driven by his passion to give farmers a better economic advantage in the marketplace.
Michelle Segovia, assistant professor, Division of Applied Social Sciences, has been selected to participate in the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP) CeMENT workshop to be held in January. Funded by the American Economic Association, the workshop aims to mentor female faculty in tenure-track positions at Ph.D.-granting economics departments in the U.S. For more information about the workshop, please visit the American Economic Association website.
Corinne Valdivia, professor of agricultural and applied economics, has been awarded the D. Howard Doane Professorship. Valdivia’s research on the translational effect of innovation on farming with the intersection of community, and her involvement with interdisciplinary mixed practice systems focused on environmental and community sustainability continue Doane’s work at the forefront of the development of agriculture economics, helping farmers to incorporate innovation into their farming operations, and using farm management strategies to achieve solutions in animal, plant, and soil management systems that lead to long standing environmental stewardship.
D. Howard Doane founded the Department of Farm Management at the University of Missouri in 1910, which later became the Department of Rural Life, then the Department of Agricultural Economics. During his life he served as a change agent for U.S. agriculture.
Sandy Rikoon, dean of the College of Human Environmental Sciences and rural sociology professor in the Division of Applied Social Sciences, received an honorary doctoral degree from the University of South Bohemia in the Czech Republic. Dr. Rikoon’s honorary doctorate was the first honorary degree awarded through the university’s College of Economics, and it was only the 26th awarded by the university. Read more about the honor.
Judy Stallmann and co-authors Craig Maher, Steven Deller and Sungho Park, won the award for best paper in the Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs last year. The paper, titled “Surveying the Effects of Limitations on Taxes and Expenditures: What Do/Don’t We Know?” reviews the theoretical, operational and empirical contexts of tax and expenditure limitations at the state and local levels. Stallmann is a professor in agricultural and applied economics, rural sociology and public affairs. You can read the paper here.
