News Release Distributed 11/11/11
The LSU AgCenter is honoring six individuals and four teams of faculty members for outstanding service to extension and research at a ceremony on Dec. 2.
Extension faculty receiving individual awards are coastal area agent Mark Shirley and nematologist Charles Overstreet. Entomologists Rogers Leonard and Fangneng Huang will receive top research honors.
Amy Blanchard and Karen Bearb are staff award winners.
Terri Crawford and Cathy Agan, both extension agents in the northeast region, won the new Extension Team of Two award for their family nutrition nights and intergenerational approach to fighting childhood obesity.
The awards to be presented include:
Extension Excellence: Coastal area agent Mark Shirley is being recognized for his dedication to helping people in southwest Louisiana protect and earn a living off the marshes and waterways in his community.
Floyd S. Edmiston Extension Award: Charles Overstreet earned this award for helping farmers and gardeners improve their management of nematodes, which are microscopic worms that live in the soil and hurt crop yields.
Denver T. and Ferne Loupe Extension Team Award: The Louisiana Super Plants team is responsible for developing and implementing a state-based consumer awareness and plant promotion program. The team includes horticulturists Regina Bracy, Dan Gill and Allen Owings, and communications specialist Elma Sue McCallum.
Doyle Chambers Research Award: Entomologist Rogers Leonard is being recognized for his substantial contribution to improved integrated pest management in agriculture production, while helping minimize the use of chemicals.
G & H Seed Company Research Excellence Award: Fangneng Huang, entomologist, was selected for his research that has helped delay the development of insecticide resistance on insects and for maintaining the effectiveness of registered pesticides.
Tipton Team Award: The wheat breeding team has developed successful wheat varieties that dominate the southeastern United States and help wheat growers improve yields. Researchers on the team are Steve Harrison, plant breeder; Boyd Padgett and Don Groth, plant pathologists; Rogers Leonard and Fangneng Huang, entomologists; Rick Mascagni, agronomist; and research associates Kelly Arceneaux, Katie McCarthy, Chris Roider and Myra Purvis.
Rosalie Bivin 4-H Youth Development Faculty Award: Vicky Chesser, nutrition agent in the northwest region and Katherine Pace, 4-H agent in Caddo Parish, were selected for implementing a nutrition and healthy living service-learning project for youth attending the Allendale Friendship House after-school program in Caddo Parish.
Ganelle Bullock Staff Outstanding Service Award: Amy Blanchard, administrative coordinator in the School of Plant, Environmental & Soil Sciences, assists in the production and distribution of horticulture extension materials, while helping faculty members coordinate professional meetings and demonstrations.
Outstanding Service Award for Associates: Karen Bearb, research associate at the Rice Research Station in Crowley, is responsible for coordinating lab and field activities relating to the rice breeding project and maintaining the project’s website and newsletter.
Tobie Blanchard