By Stephanie Schupska
University of
Georgia
Five innovative leaders at the University of Georgia were honored in the name of
another innovator Oct. 3 in Athens, Ga., when the UGA College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences had its annual D.W. Brooks Lecture and Faculty 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 those honored each
year.
The 2006 winners are Allan M.
Armitage, teaching; Joseph F.
Frank, research; John P.
Beasley, extension; Sandra F.
McKinney, public service extension programs; and
Anna V.A.
Resurreccion, international agriculture. Each will receive $5,000.
The awards program included the annual Brooks lecture. Pedro Sanchez spoke on
the African Green Revolution and the Millennium Villages Project. Sanchez is director
of the Center for Tropical Agriculture and Rural Environment and senior research
scholar and director of the Millennium Villages Project at the Earth Institute at
Columbia University.
Armitage has evaluated garden plants in Montreal,
Quebec; East Lansing,
Mich.; and
now Athens, Ga. Lately, his research focuses on using woody shrubs for the
greenhouse and retail industry.
The author of 11 books, Armitage is best known for his classroom and reference
text, “Herbaceous Garden Perennials, a Treatise of Identification, Culture and
Garden Attributes.” His interest in new crops for the garden, greenhouse and field
has taken him to gardens worldwide. He also directs the UGA Horticulture Gardens,
which are supported by growers and plant breeders internationally.
Frank, a CAES food science and microbiology
professor, teaches food
microbiology
courses in the department of food science and technology. From 1999 to 2001, he
served as interim head of the department.
His research covers the microbiological safety of ready-to-eat foods and the role of
bacterial cultures in dairy product quality. His research accomplishments include
showing how biofilm growth affects Listeria monocytogenes survival in food
processing environments, developing ways to observe viable pathogenic bacteria on
food tissues treated with antimicrobials, and finding that capsule-producing lactic
acid bacteria can improve the texture of low-fat dairy products.
Beasley, a UGA Cooperative Extension peanut
agronomist, is based at the
CAES
Tifton campus. His applied research program focuses on peanut management and
economically competitive production systems.
His priority is to develop educational programs and deliver peanut production
information to county Extension agents and Georgia peanut growers. He works
closely with other faculty on the UGA peanut team to develop and deliver
information that makes Georgia farms more productive and profitable.
McKinney, the UGA Extension coordinator for Crisp
County, has excelled in Extension 4-H youth development. Her innovative
educational programs have
garnered state, national and international recognition.
Under McKinney’s direction, Crisp County 4-H was one of five youth groups in the
world to receive the Albert Schweitzer International Youth Group of the Year Award
for their environmental work in waste management, beautification and education.
Another Crisp project, “Taking the Sting Out of the Mosquito Threat,” was the only
4-H project in the nation selected to appear on a video showcasing exceptional
after-school programming.
Resurreccion, a professor of food science and
technology, has
distinguished herself
through international research and exceptional creativity. She has helped globalize
the CAES peanut processing and utilization research program.
Resurreccion developed a research program on ways to measure and quantify
consumer preferences and the sensory quality of food. She uses this information to
design, develop and optimize food products for global markets. She’s also a
principal investigator or co-investigator on five U.S. Agency for International
Development Peanut Collaborative Research Support Program projects in the
Philippines, Thailand, Egypt and Bulgaria.
