Stories

Nov. 20, 2020

Elizabeth Prentice Receives Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award as Part of 2020 Celebration of Excellence

Elizabeth Prentice received the 2020 Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award as part of this year’s virtual Celebration of Excellence awards celebration in CAFNR. She defended her dissertation, “Narrating Disturbance: Risk, Power, and Mountain Pine Beetles” and completed her doctoral degree in rural sociology in summer 2020. Her advisor is Hua Qin, associate professor of rural sociology. Both Prentice and Qin were honored as part of Celebration of Excellence. Her dissertation work explores the competing narratives of attribution surrounding a massive bark beetle outbreak in north central Colorado. This research fills an existing gap in the understanding of the human dimensions of…

Nov. 20, 2020

Austin Sanders Receives Distinguished Thesis Award as Part of 2020 Celebration of Excellence

Austin Sanders received the 2020 Distinguished Thesis Award as part of this year’s virtual CAFNR Celebration of Excellence Awards. Sanders graduated with his Master’s in agricultural and applied economics from CAFNR in spring 2020. During the course of his Masters program, his thesis research was guided by his supervisor, Sarah Low, associate professor in the Division of Applied Social Sciences. He received his Bachelor’s in political science from Mizzou in 2015. Both Sanders and Low were honored as part of Celebration of Excellence. Sanders’s thesis, Rural Agglomeration: How Does the Distribution of People Across Rural America Affect Entrepreneurship, researches how…

Nov. 17, 2020

Michael Sykuta Receives Outstanding Senior Teaching Award as Part of 2020 Celebration of Excellence

Michael Sykuta, associate professor of agricultural and applied economics in the Division of Applied Social Sciences (DASS), received the Outstanding Senior Teaching Award during CAFNR’s 2020 virtual Celebration of Excellence awards celebration. Sykuta received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and his master’s degree and PhD from Washington University, with all three degrees coming in economics. He joined the University of Missouri in 1998 as an assistant professor before becoming an associate professor in 2005. Sykuta has served as graduate faculty since 1998 and doctoral faculty since 1999. He is the director of undergraduate studies in agribusiness…

Nov. 5, 2020

Hua Qin Wins National Excellence Award as Part of Research Team

Hua Qin, associate professor of environmental and resource sociology/demography in the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Division of Applied Social Sciences (DASS), is part of a multidisciplinary, multi-institution research team that was recently awarded the National Excellence in Multistate Research Award from the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This prestigious and highly competitive award recognizes scientists who conduct exemplary research and outreach efforts across multiple states and in doing so enhance the visibility of USDA multistate programs. The team was awarded the Western Region Excellence…

Sep. 22, 2020

John Tummons Receives 2020 NAAE Region IV Outstanding Service Citation

John Tummons, assistant agricultural education and leadership teaching professor, received the 2020 Region IV Outstanding Service Citation from the National Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE) earlier this summer. The award, sponsored by Goodheart-Willcox, recognizes those who have provided services to agricultural educators, agricultural programs or agricultural student organizations and have attained leadership in professional organizations.

Sep. 22, 2020

Michael Cook Receives Best Paper Award for Co-Authored Study

Michael Cook, agricultural and applied economics professor and Partridge Chair of Cooperative Leadership, co-authored a study that received a Best Paper, Strategy Division award at the Academy of Management 2020 annual meeting in August. The paper, titled “From Instrumental to Normative Relational Strategies: A Study of Open Buyer-Supplier Relations,” takes a case study approach to examine the open vertical and horizontal relational strategy used by Natura, a company in the cosmetic industry.

June 2, 2020

Harvey James Receives Richard P. Haynes Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award in Agriculture, Food, and Human Values

Harvey James, professor of agricultural and applied economics, and associate director in the Division of Applied Social Sciences, was recently honored with the 2020 Richard P. Haynes Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award in Agriculture, Food, and Human Values from the Agriculture, Food & Human Values Society (AFHVS). The award honors persons, who in their careers, have made outstanding contributions towards realizing the goals of the AFHVS through research, teaching, extension, public service or public policy. Nominations highlighted the impact of James’ research about fairness, trust, conflict, democratic governance and morality and his courses that focus on the ethical dimensions of agriculture…

May 12, 2020

Jason Entsminger Receives Catalyst Award

Jason Entsminger, a PhD student in the Division of Applied Social Sciences (Managerial, Behavioral & Organizational Economics), recently received the Catalyst Award from the Mizzou LGBTQ Resource Center. Entsminger is an active leader in Students for Cultivating Change at Mizzou. Established in 1998, Catalyst Awards is an annual event aimed at bringing together LGBTQ activists, volunteers, students and community members. Any group, individual or event may be nominated for a Catalyst Award, which is reviewed by a committee overseen by the LGBTQ Resource Center Coordinator.

Sep. 18, 2019

Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) Celebrates its 35th Anniversary

This year, the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) celebrates its 35th anniversary. With its more than 20 contributing faculty, staff and students, FAPRI works with Congress to shape U.S. farm policy. It provides objective analysis of agricultural markets and policies and uses economic models to estimate how those policies affect consumers and markets. Access more information about the institute and its work at fapri.missouri.edu.

Nov. 7, 2018

Pat Westhoff Named to Howard Cowden Professorship

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…