Purdue honors nine Distinguished Agriculture Alumni
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Nine Purdue University graduates will be recognized as Distinguished Agriculture Alumni during a campus ceremony Friday (March 5).
The award honors mid-career Purdue Agriculture graduates who have made significant contributions to their profession, or society in general. The award program started in 1992.
The 2010 honorees represent a broad range of career fields, said Jay Akridge, Purdue's Glenn W. Sample Dean of Agriculture.
"These nine people represent who we are and what we do so well," Akridge said. "They are businesspeople, educators, farmer/ranchers, entrepreneurs and researchers - and they are all leaders. We take great pride in our alumni, and these are nine of our best." An awards convocation for the 2010 recipients will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the Purdue Memorial Union North Ballroom.
This year's honorees include:
* David D. Anderson of Carmel, Ind., global director of seeds operations for Dow AgroSciences in Indianapolis. Anderson leads a company team responsible for developing and producing parent and hybrid seed for alfalfa, canola, corn, sorghum, soybeans and sunflowers. He is responsible for more than $300 million in budgets and 450 full-time employees worldwide. Before joining Dow AgroSciences in 2008, Anderson was vice president of production for AgReliant Genetics in Westfield, Ind. Anderson earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics from Purdue in 1986.
* Gregory W. Deason of West Lafayette, Ind., vice president of real estate and research park development and director of Purdue Research Parks, Purdue Research Foundation. Deason leads the foundation's efforts to maintain a progressive and vibrant environment at Purdue's four research park facilities in order to recruit and retain high-tech companies. He also interacts with Purdue faculty and staff to expand existing research facilities and programs and acquire or lease additional properties. Deason is president of the Association of University Research Parks, based in Tucson. Deason earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics from Purdue in 1986.
* Eric Jon Gustafson of Rhinelander, Wis., research ecologist, project leader and director of the Institute for Applied Ecosystem Studies, U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service Northern Research Station. Gustafson's research focuses on the ecological implications of historic and projected changes in the composition and structure of landscapes. As a Purdue student he was a pioneer in the development of spatial pattern analysis software and later wrote the definitive review on quantification of landscape pattern. Gustafson earned a doctoral degree in landscape ecology from Purdue in 1992.
* Douglas E. Hoerr of Chicago, a senior partner with Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects LLC. Hoerr has designed more than 500 private gardens across the country. His firm created the design guidelines for the Michigan Avenue streetscape along Chicago's bustling Magnificent Mile and the streetscapes of Des Moines, Iowa, and St. Joseph, Mich. Hoerr's architectural team also designed the City Garden at Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago, as well as transforming the campuses of Loyola University and North Park University. Hoerr earned a bachelor's degree in landscape architecture from Purdue in 1979.
* Patricia L. "Patsy" Houghton of McCook, Neb., founder, owner, general manager and president of the McCook-based Heartland Cattle Co. Heartland is a professional heifer development and research center, where beef producers retain ownership of their replacement heifers as the animals are synchronized and artificially bred according to customer specifications. Since its founding in 1990, Heartland has artificially inseminated nearly 71,000 heifers placed into 31 states, weaned more than 115,000 calves, fed 75,000 cattle and completed about 40 research projects. Houghton is a former Extension beef specialist for Kansas State University. She earned a doctoral degree in ruminant nutrition from Purdue in 1986.
* Janis E. McFarland of Chapel Hill, N.C., head of North American regulatory affairs for Syngenta Crop Protection. McFarland leads Syngenta's NAFTA Regulatory Affairs Department, which is responsible for all agricultural chemical registrations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. More than 150 products and 15 new seed treatments have been approved under her leadership. McFarland was elected a fellow in the Weed Science Society of America in 2005. She earned a master's degree in plant pathology-molecular virology from Purdue in 1982 and a doctoral degree in plant physiology-herbicide modes of action from Purdue in 1986.
* Craig S. Pikaard of Bloomington, Ind., the Carlos O. Miller Professor of Plant Growth and Development in the departments of Biology and Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry at Indiana University. Pikaard is a noted researcher whose work has advanced the understanding of the regulation of ribosomal RNA transcription, epigenetic mechanisms of gene silencing and the discovery of a new kind of RNA polymerase. He was elected a fellow to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2008. Pikaard earned a doctoral degree in plant physiology from Purdue in 1985.
* Edward P. Vondell of Mexico City, Mexico, director of project engineering and quality for Chrysler in Mexico and Latin America. Vondell leads a team of more than 150 engineers that designs the corporation's car and truck platforms. Sales of those Chrysler products exceed $2 billion annually. Under Vondell's leadership Chrysler de Mexico received the Premio Nacional de Tecnología 2007 (National Technology Award for 2007). He is president of the Mexico section of the Society of Automotive Engineers. Vondell earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural engineering from Purdue in 1985.
* Mona Baker Wolf of Cincinnati, founder and president of The Wolf Group, which provides sensory testing of products for such companies as Burger King, ConAgra and Procter & Gamble. Sensory testing services help manufacturers determine the consumer acceptance and market viability of new and existing products. In 1986 The Wolf Group was selected the "Best Place to Work" for a small company in Cincinnati. Wolf was named The Small Business Person of 2007 for the state of Ohio and awarded Purdue's Outstanding Food Science Award in 2008. Wolf earned a bachelor's degree in food science from Purdue in 1972.
A list of previous Distinguished Agriculture Alumni honorees is available on the Purdue Connections Web site at https://www.agriculture.purdue.edu/connections/winter2010/wb_daa_honorees.shtml
Writer: Steve Leer, 765-494-8415, sleer@purdue.edu
Source: Jay Akridge, 765-494-8391, akridge@purdue.edu
Ag Communications: (765) 494-8415;
Steve Leer, sleer@purdue.edu
Agriculture News Page
Note to Journalists: Individual photos of recipients are available by contacting Steve Leer, Purdue Agricultural Communication, at 765-494-8415, sleer@purdue.edu