Purdue News

April 24, 1998 Seven added to Distinguished Ag Alumni honor roll WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Seven Purdue University School of Agriculture graduates representing five states and one foreign country have been awarded 1998 Distinguished Agriculture Alumni Awards. The awards, given annually since 1992, recognize outstanding accomplishments and significant contributions to their professions and to society. They were presented by Dean of Agriculture Victor Lechtenberg on Friday, April 24, bringing to 66 the number of alumni to receive the award. Two of this year's honorees live in Indiana. They are: Charles F. Conner, Otterbein, president of the Corn Refiners Association, which represents nine wet millers of corn that refine about 1.5 billion bushels of U.S. corn into high-fructose corn syrup, ethanol and other starch-based corn products. Conner operates a 1,500-acre farm in Benton County. He earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics in 1980. Thomas E. Roney, Greenfield, a past president of both the Indiana Vegetable Growers Association and the Indiana Horticulture Society. He operates a 140-acre fruit, vegetable and greenhouse operation and on-site farm market. He earned a bachelor's degree in horticulture in 1968. The other five honorees are: Dr. Melissa Ann Ashlock, Bethesda, Md., acting chief of the Vector Development Section of the Lab of Gene Transfer within the Division of Intramural Research of the National Center of Human Genome Research at the National Institutes of Health. Ashlock earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry in 1980. Robert W. Baltzell, Omaha, Neb., a member of Purdue's 1967 Rose Bowl team. He is president of Baltzell Agri- Products, an animal feed manufacturing and distribution company with annual sales of more than $25 million. Baltzell earned a bachelor's degree in animal sciences in 1968. Jill Gisele Greene, Clive, Iowa, vice president and team leader at Meyocks and Priebe Advertising. Greene and her husband own and operate a crop and cattle farming operation. Greene is a past vice president of the National Agri-Marketing Association. She earned her bachelor's degree in animal sciences in 1978. John K. Oelslager, Mantua, Ohio, president of the automation group at Parker Hannifin, a $4.1 billion global manufacturer of components and systems used to control motion and pressurized fluids critical in many agricultural machines. Oelslager earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics in 1966. Julio A. Penna, Buenos Aires, Argentina, head of the Department of Economics in the School of Agricultural Sciences at the Catholic University of Argentina. Penna is also a senior economist for Argentina's Institute of Food Technology. He earned a Ph.D. in agricultural economics in 1974. CONTACT: Laurie Swift, (765) 494-3150 Compiled by Chris Sigurdson, (765) 494-8415; e-mail, sig@ecn.purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page