Wisconsin Ag Connection - CALS to Honor Exemplary Leaders During Awards Banquet

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CALS to Honor Exemplary Leaders During Awards Banquet
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 08/29/2013

Six outstanding professionals will be honored by the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison this fall. The school announced it will present its Honorary Recognition Award to Roger Blobaum, Pam Jahnke, John Ruedinger and Allan Schultz; with Henry Fribourg earning the CALS Distinguished Alumni award; and Professor Emeritus Warren Gabelman getting Distinguished Service honors. Each will be recognized during a special ceremony on October 17.

Blobaum was a founding director of International Organic Accreditation Service, and is currently co-director of the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service. Through his leadership, the Organic University program was created to precede the to the MOSES Organic Farming Conference. Organic University is an all-day program of organic and sustainable agriculture presented in a series of courses featuring both organic farmers and university faculty.

Jahnke is a Madison area farm broadcaster and former president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters. She has been named 'Friend of Agriculture' by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture and is involved with the World Dairy Expo, Dane County Fair and Farm Technology Days.

Ruedinger is an accomplished dairy farmer and cooperative leader who was an early innovator in the expansion of the family dairy operation.

Schultz is the Vice President of VP Holdings Corporation and Vita Plus Corporation. He has also been a supporter of UW-Madison Dairy Science students and graduates and helped create the UW Dairy Science/Vita Plus Masters Degree in Coursework Fellowship.

Fribourg is an emeritus professor of Crop Ecology at the University of Tennessee where he worked since 1956. He has traveled the world and mastered several languages while spreading his knowledge about forage management, crop ecology and agricultural climatology. He is an excellent writer and has been published countless times while remaining an excellent teacher, researcher and mentor.

Gabelman came to the University of Wisconsin-Madison from Yale in 1949 and began the CALS hybrid vegetable breeding program. He developed and released over 75 vegetable inbreds, hybrids or cultivars, and virtually every consumer of table beets, processing carrots or long-storage onions in North or South American, Europe, Japan or Australia has benefited from germplasm from his program. He has been recognized nationally and internationally for his work as an excellent vegetable breeder and prolific teacher. He has been honored by several awards including the creation of two Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellowships in his honor.

The awards will be presented at an evening banquet in the Memorial Union on the UW-Madison campus.

The Honorary Recognition Award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions toward the development of agriculture, protection of natural resources and improvement of rural living. The Distinguished Service Awards recognize extraordinary contributions by a CALS faculty or staff member.

Over the past 100 years, the college has recognized nearly 500 individuals for their outstanding service with the Honorary Recognition Award.

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