PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State University’s College of Agriculture and Home Economics honored a handful of faculty and support personnel at its 37th annual awards banquet Saturday night.
Gaylord Mink, a plant pathologist at the WSU Prosser Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center, received the college Faculty Excellence in Research Award.
Detection techniques that Mink has pioneered during 33 years at the university provide the basis of internationally recognized tests for virus certification, particularly for tree fruits, peas, beans and grapes. His research is the basis for many regulations governing the movement of plant materials throughout the world.
Henry Waelti, Cooperative Extension agricultural engineer, received the college Faculty Excellence in Extension Award. Waelti has helped the state’s apple industry reduce electric energy use for refrigeration of controlled atmosphere storage by up to 50 percent by encouraging the use of intermittent operation of evaporator fans.
Waelti also has helped potato growers reduce storage losses and sprouting problems by improving storage ventilation systems.
Ray Folwell, professor of agricultural economics, received the R.M. Wade Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Folwell has taught at WSU for nearly 30 years. He also coordinates the agricultural economics department’s undergraduate curriculum, serves as the department’s honors associate, chairs the University Catalog Subcommittee of the Academic Affairs Committee, serves as academic advisor to a large number of students, advises a student club and coaches the department’s all-academic bowl team.
Roger Chapman, professor of natural resource sciences, received the College of Agriculture and Home Economics Alumni and Friends Association’s Award for Undergraduate Advising.
Chapman, a member of the WSU faculty for 22 years, has advised an average of 28 undergraduate students each year for the past five years. In addition he played a key role in developing and coordinating fall orientation advising sessions for natural resource science students and the department’s undergraduate advising handbook and the graduate handbook.
Marilue Von Bargen, assistant to the director of academic programs for the college, was presented the college’s first Excellence Award for Administrative-Professional personnel.
A letter nominating her for the award described her as “the glue that has held the Office of Academic Programs together through six different directors in the last seven years.”
Von Bargen’s responsibilities include managing the Academic Programs office and organizing the college’s commencement activities as well as other special events. She also has made major contributions to the college’s awards program, the dean’s merit scholarship program, the college student recruitment program and the dean’s excellence awards banquet.
Jodi Anderson, a program coordinator in the food science and human nutrition department, was awarded the college’s first Staff Excellence Award.
Anderson handles the paperwork of 175 undergraduate and 60 graduate students, responds to more than 100 inquiries each year about the department’s graduate programs and serves as secretary of the department’s graduate affairs committee.
The 19-member WSU Recycling and Composting Committee received the first college Team Excellence Award.
The committee developed a composting center that converts 16,000 tons of waste into compost annually.
Members of the committee from the college were Dan Caldwell, Don Nelson, Spencer Alisch and Rich Finch from the animal sciences department; David Bezdicek, David Granatstein, Theresa Beaver and Mary Fauci from the crop and soil sciences department; and Chuck Oldenburg from the horticulture department.
Also serving on the committee were Wayne Gash, material resource services; Craig Benjamin, Earl Muir, Ed Fisher, and Gary Wells of facilities development; Sam Miller, university dining services; Dwight Hagihara, Marty O’Malley, and Gene Patterson, environmental health and safety; and Bruce Asplund, College of Veterinary Medicine.
Plaques and monetary awards of up to $1,000 were presented to the recipients.
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