Front row: Maud Walsh, James Hendrix, Georgianna Tuuri, Kayanush Aryana, Jimmy Meaux, Donna Morgan, Dustin Harrell, Carol LeDoux, Brian Marx and Eric Webster. Back row: Jeff Beasley, Jong Ham, Steve Linscombe, Fatemah Malekian, Ernest Girouard, Allen Hogan, Jim Oard, Gerry Romero, Barton Joffrion, Don Groth and Michael Blazier. News Release Distributed 12/16/15
BATON ROUGE, La.—The LSU AgCenter, the LSU College of Agriculture and the Southern University AgCenter announced the winners of their annual faculty and staff awards at a ceremony held Dec. 16 at the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens at Burden.
Jimmy Meaux, Calcasieu Parish county agent, was the recipient of the Floyd S. Edmiston Award for his exceptional work with the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service. Meaux spent 20 years working with youth during the early part of his career but is now primarily responsible for agricultural and natural resources within his parish, including work with row crops and animal enterprises such as crawfish and cattle.
The Extension Excellence award went to Terrebonne Parish county agent Barton Joffrion. He has spent his entire 39-year career in the parish. He started as a 4-H agent, served as a fisheries agent and now is primarily doing horticultural work. Joffrion played an instrumental role in establishing an urban forestry board in Houma and is working on a research project with area Master Gardeners pertaining to the crape myrtle bark scale.
Dustin Harrell, the LSU AgCenter rice specialist stationed at the H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station in Crowley, received the G&H Seed Company Inc. Research Award. Harrell helped identify a nutrient deficiency problem in Louisiana rice fields that was causing significant yield loss and came up with recommendations to rectify the problem. He has also done extensive work in ratoon stubble management leading to higher yields on ratoon or second-growth rice crops.
The recipient of the Doyle Chambers Research Award was Eric Webster, a weed scientist with the AgCenter. He is responsible for developing rice weed management strategies, which in Louisiana are unique because of the abundance of fields that are used for both rice and crawfish production. Webster is also responsible for testing new rice varieties and their susceptibility to damage from herbicides.
The Denver T. and Ferne Loupe Extension Team Award was presented to the Louisiana Master Farmer Program group. Team members are Ernest Girouard, Master Farmer coordinator; James Hendrix, northeast region Master Farmer agent; Allen Hogan, southern region Master Farmer agent; and Donna Morgan, central region Master Farmer agent. The Louisiana Master Farmer program was established by an act of the Louisiana legislature, and more than 200 farmers have completed the program and are certified Master Farmers.
The Rice Sheath Blight Resistance Team was named the Tipton Team Research Team Award winners. Members of the team are plant pathologists Don Groth and Jong Ham, rice breeder Steve Linscombe and agronomist Jim Oard. The group is responsible for developing new rice varieties that are resistant the sheath blight, the most common and prevalent disease found in rice produced throughout the southern U.S. The team also makes recommendations on rice growing methods that can reduce the incidences of sheath blight.
Vermilion Parish 4-H agents Shannan Waits and Hilton Waits received the 4-H Youth Development Faculty Award. The two were instrumental in the development of a new service-learning project called Keeping Louisiana on the Map. The project focuses on raising environmental awareness of coastal erosion and includes activities such as beach sweeps, wetlands planting and field trips to important coastal research centers.
Two staff members were recognized for their efforts. Carol LeDoux, administrative program specialist for the H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station and Southwest Region in Crowley, received the Ganelle Bullock Outstanding Service Award. Gerry Romero, a research associate at the Central Research Station in Baton Rouge, was named the winner of the Outstanding Service Award for Associates.
Richard Keim, associate professor in the AgCenter’s School of Renewable Natural Resources, was the winner of the 2015 Article of the Year for Louisiana Agriculture magazine with his article on water management on Catahoula Lake and the implications of woody vegetation. Also, service awards were presented to two faculty members for their three years of service on the magazine’s editorial board. They are Dustin Harrell, agronomist and state rice specialist, and Michael Blazier, a forestry associate professor at the Hill Farm Research Station in Homer.
For the Southern University Ag Center, Fatemah Malekian, professor in nutrition and food science, was named the winner of the Chancellor’s Outstanding Research Scientist Award. Kenyetta Nelson-Smith, associate specialist in community and economic development received the Chancellor’s Outstanding Specialist Award. The winner of the Chancellor’s Outstanding Faculty Award was Andra Johnson, assistant director of research in the School of Agriculture, Research, Extension and Applied Sciences at Alcorn State University.
Receiving the LSU College of Agriculture Teaching Awards were Kayanush Aryana, professor in the School of Animal Sciences; Jeff Beasley, associate professor in the School of Plant, Environmental and Soil Sciences; Brian Marx, professor in the Department of Experimental Statistics; Georgianna Turri, associate professor in the School of Nutrition and Food Sciences; and Maud Walsh, a professor in the School of Plant, Environmental and Soil Sciences.
Craig Gautreaux