By Stephanie Schupska
University of
Georgia
One man’s legacy of service, dedication and innovation
continued in Athens, Ga., Oct. 3 as four University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences faculty
members received the D.W. Brooks Awards for Excellence.
Brooks, founder of Gold Kist Inc. and Cotton States Mutual
Insurance Companies, was an advisor on agriculture and trade
issues to seven U.S. presidents. Although he died in 1999, his
promotion of agriculture lives on through the people honored
Monday.
The 2005 winners are Karl Espelie, teaching; Andrew Paterson, research; Phillip Roberts, extension; and Mary White, public service extension
programs. Each received $5,000 in recognition of their
excellent work in their fields.
The awards program, in the Georgia Center for Continuing
Education, included the annual Brooks lecture, given this year
by Judith Stern, a University of California at Davis professor
of nutrition and internal medicine, on fighting obesity.
Espelie, a CAES entomology professor, has taught thousands of
UGA students since joining the faculty in 1986. Besides
teaching courses in entomology and honors biology, Espelie
advises 300 biology and premedicine majors in the honors
program as the CAES premed advisor. In 2004, all seven students
he helped apply to the Medical College of Georgia were
admitted.
In 2005, Espelie was named the UGA outstanding faculty advisor
and awarded a certificate of merit from the National Academic
Advising Association. He received the Lothar Tresp Outstanding
Honors Professor Teaching Award in 1996, 2000 and 2003, a
recognition that comes from the brightest and most demanding
CAES students. Besides teaching and advising, Espelie gives
lectures and demonstrations each year to elementary school
students.
Paterson, an internationally recognized plant genomics
authority, is director of the UGA Plant Genome Mapping
Laboratory, which comprises about 40 UGA research scientists.
He is also director of the National Science Foundation
Comparative Grass Genomics Center and the USDA-IFAFS Center on
Reducing the Genetic Vulnerability of Cotton and co-director of
the Genes for Georgia Initiative.
He is most widely recognized for his expertise in applying
modern technologies to genome mapping and QTL localization. His
work addresses the fundamental questions on the structure and
organization of crop genomes.
Roberts, an associate professor of entomology, is widely known
as one of the nation’s leading cotton entomologists. He leads
one of the strongest multidisciplinary cotton insect pest
management programs in the United States. His approach provides
superior educational programs to Georgia cotton farmers, county
agents, industry associates and farm consultants.
In the Southeast, insect pests are often the most limiting
factor in cotton production. The overall excellence and breadth
of Roberts’ program has helped keep the Georgia cotton industry
economically viable. His role on the UGA cotton team has become
even more important as insect control issues become more
complex due to transgenic crop opportunities and liabilities
and continuing changes in farming practices.
Over the past 10 years, White designed and taught more than 500
hours of parenting education to at-risk families and teen
parents. As a family and consumer sciences Extension agent for
Candler and Emanuel counties, she wrote 24 “Tips for Parents”
pamphlets, which are available nationwide through the Extension
Web site. She also teaches and facilitates more than 30 hours
of childcare training each year. Her efforts have doubled the
number of licensed caregivers in Candler County and led to the
certification of more than 500 area childcare providers.
To reach the at-risk people of her counties, White focuses more
than 40 percent of her programs on low-income, parenting,
school success and health-related topics. She is known
nationally for programs that develop youth potential and
improve the lives of at-risk families and consumers. She was
recognized statewide for leading the Emanuel County Fitness
Challenge, a six-week walking program for more than 700 adults
and teens. She developed and teaches a yearly nutrition and
health series, too, for all preschool students in Candler and
Emanuel counties.
(Stephanie Schupska is a news editor with the University of
Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)
