Kansas State University

Horticulture Graduate Student Wins NACTA Student Teaching Award

Matthew Wilson a Ph.D. candidate in the Horticulture, Forestry and Recreation Resources Department recently received a North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Graduate Student Teaching Award. This award is given to graduate students who excel as teachers in agriculture disciplines and are active in classroom instruction. Applicants are reviewed by a committee of NACTA members and are evaluated based on the graduate student's teaching philosophy, their involvement in teaching outside the classroom, self-evaluation, support letters from supervising faculty, administrator, and student recommendations. Congratulations, Matt!

Miller Receives SoTL Award

Chad Miller, Assistant Professor of Ornamental Horticulture, received a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Award from the K-State College of Agriculture Innovations in Teaching, Learning and Assessment Program. The SoTL is the process by which faculty make scholarly inquiry into student learning to assist in advancing the practice of teaching by making research findings public, not only with colleagues at K-State, but around the country. Since arriving at K-State, Miller has been active in learning how to integrate and conduct SoTL in all of his classes. The award includes a stipend and travel funds to present SoTL research.

Sammons wins 2015 Top Shot Award

Zackary Sammons won the Wildlife and Outdoor Enterprise Management 2015 TOP SHOT Award. This award is based on two weekends of instruction in and shooting the following shotgun sports: Sporting Clays, FITASC, 5-Stand, Trap and Skeet. The instruction and competition took place at "Flint Oak" Resort located at Fall River, Kansas. Zack is a Class 6 WOEM student (2014). His overall score beat 26 students competing in the "shotgun" courses.

Miller Receives 2015 Gamma Sigma Delta Award

Chad Miller, Assistant Professor of Ornamental Horticulture in the Horticulture, Forestry, and Recreation Resources Department, has been awarded the Gamma Sigma Delta Outstanding Teacher Award. This annual award is given to an active member of Gamma Sigma Delta that has been teaching for at least two years and has provided outstanding service in resident teaching. Gamma Sigma Delta is an international honorary society of agriculture dedicated that is dedicated to excellence in scholarship, research, and service.

College of Agriculture Advisor of the Year

Chad Miller, Assistant Professor of Ornamental Horticulture was awarded the College of Agriculture's 2014-2015 Advisor of the Year Award. Miller was nominated by the K-State Horticulture Club. Selection of the award is based on survey responses from the advisor's undergraduate advisees.

Graduate Teaching Award

Stuart Sprague, Ph.D. horticulture student received the College of Agriculture's Richard Elmore Brown Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award. Stuart's advisor is Dr. Sunghun Park.

ASHS Outstanding Education Publication Award

A SoTL paper by Horticulture's Kim Williams and former M.S. student Joshua Craver has been named the ASHS Outstanding Education Publication Award winner for papers published in 2014 by the American Society for Horticultural Science. “Assessing Student Learning from an Experiential Module in a Greenhouse Management Course using Hydroponics and Recirculating Solution Culture” [HortTechnology 24(5):610–617] was funded by the College of Agriculture's Innovations in Teaching and Learning Program.

Faculty of the Semester

Steve Keeley, Professor of Turfgrass Science, was awarded Faculty of the Semester from the College of Agriculture.

K-State Graduate Research Forum Competition

Jake Reeves (MS Turfgrass Graduate Student) won 2nd place in the Agriculture Poster Session at the K-State Graduate Research Forum Competition. His poster was titled;"Bermudagrass Control with Glyphosate, Fluazifop and Mesotrione for Spring Renovation." (Jacob A. Reeves, Jared A. Hoyle and Cole S. Thompson) Evan Alderman (MS Turfgrass Graduate Student) won 3rd place in the Agriculture Oral Session at the K-State Graduate Research Forum Competition. His oral presentation was titled; "Influence of Nitrogen Fertilizer Source and Rate on Buffalograss Divot Recovery." (Evan J. Alderman, Jared A. Hoyle, Jack D. Fry and Steve J. Keeley)

The North American Gamebird Association, in conjunction with Dr. Peg McBee of Kansas State's Wildlife and Outdoor Skills Management program, held a competition for students in which articles on various subjects pertinent to the gamebird industry were selected for publication in editions of the NAGA News from May 2015 to January 2016. Five finalists were selected, awarded a $100 prize, and an Associate Membership to the North American Gamebird Association. Finalists are (front row in picture): Brady Waldeier "Chukar Hunting,"Noah Parsons "Professionalism," Joseph Prud'homme, III "Passionate Perceptions & Perspectives" Back row: Brady Burks "Women and Hunting," Elliot Matyac "Predator Management."

Greg Davis, Educator of the Year Award

Dr. Greg Davis was awarded the 2015 Academic Education Foundation Educator of the Year Award. This prestigious, national award recognizes educators who have been passionate supporters and tireless ambassadors of the landscape industry. Recipients of the award are individuals who have gone above and beyond the call of duty by contributing time, energy and enthusiasm to their programs; and show dedication to the education of future industry leaders. This video was shown during the award presentation.

Tajchman receives Travel Award

Alan Tajchman, M.S. student in Wildlife and Outdoor Enterprise Management, has received a $500 Graduate Student Council Travel Award towards his travel costs to present a poster on his thesis research at the Kansas Natural Resources Conference in Wichita.
Congratulations Alan!

Raudenbush Recipient of Award

Zane Raudenbush, Ph.D. student in Horticulture has been selected as a recipient of the 2014 Chris Stiegler Turfgrass Science Student Travel Award. His application was one of the top 6 out of 22 highly qualified applicants. The award check for $1,000 will be presented to him during the Division C-5 Turfgrass Science Business Meeting, which is on Wednesday, November 5th, beginning at 10:00 AM (Long Beach Convention Center, Seaside Ballroom A). Congratulations Zane!

Miller & Williams awarded Innovative Teaching Awards

Two of the nine nationally available Innovative Teaching Award Grants from the APLU, were awarded to K-State faculty in the Horticulture, Forestry, and Recreation Resources Department. The focus of the awards is three-fold. First, is the goal to enhance faculty scholarship of teaching and learning through innovative teaching and learning experiences for students. A second goal is to build and develop collaborative faculty relationships across institutions in the food, agriculture, and natural sciences, using the innovative teaching and learning approaches. And lastly, these awards may serve as base or pilot studies for future grant proposals. Chad Miller, Assistant Professor of Horticulture, in collaboration with Iowa State faculty members Chris Currey, Assistant Professor of Horticulture and Anne Marie Vanderzanden, Professor of Horticulture and Director of Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, will develop course and lab curriculum to increase the knowledge and understanding of plant propagation and subsequent greenhouse plant production practices of native prairie plant species. In their project, students will be involved in identifying and implementing in-lab research projects related to the native species. Information gained will be collected and disseminated through presentations publications to cooperating students in the respective courses at K-State and Iowa State, industry professionals and through further integration into course curriculum. Kim Williams, Professor of Horticulture, is collaborating with Bruce Dunn, Associate Professor of Horticulture at Oklahoma State University, to develop an in-depth, multi-week course experience in their graduate-level flowering physiology courses with a focus on crop production in high tunnels. Their project will involve student interaction from across the U.S., in teams across universities, both within and between AG*IDEA and ACCEPtS distance learning consortiums, to ultimately produce a review article that integrates the environmental domains that affect the flowering process. The project includes evaluation of the effectiveness of such an inter-institutional collaborative learning project in distance courses.

Craver wins 3rd Place at ASHS National Conference

Joshua Craver, a recent graduate, presented part of his Masters research project in the Controlled Environment Student Oral Presentation Competition at the annual American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) Conference in Orlando, Florida in late July. He competed against 11 other MS and PhD students received 3rd place. Congratulations and well-deserved, Josh!

CSSA Teaching Award

Steve Keeley is the 2014 recipient of the Crop Science Society of America Teaching Award. The annual awards are presented for outstanding contributions to agronomy through education, national and international service, and research. See news release....

Craver Recipient of Graduate Teaching Award

Congratulations to Joshua Craver (second from right), M.S. student in the department, who was recently recognized with other fantastic GTAs in the College of Agriculture as recipient of a Richard Elmore Brown Outstanding College of Agriculture Graduate Teaching Award for their phenomenal contributions in the classroom! Josh has TAed courses in greenhouse management and crops production. Much congratulations, Josh!

Wilson receives the 2014 Gamma Sigma Delta PhD Graduate Teaching Award

Matt Wilson, a Ph.D. student in the Horticulture, Forestry, and Recreation Resources Department was recently awarded the Gamma Sigma Delta Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award. Matt has been a teaching assistant for several semesters in the Landscape Plants I and II (HORT 374 and HORT 375) courses and has been actively involved in the scholarship of teaching and learning. Congratulations, Matt!

Craver takes 1st Place

Josh Craver took 1st place in the Agricultural Sciences Oral Presentation, Graduate Division at the 2014 K-State Research Forum through the College of Agriculture. Congratulations Josh!

Lavis receives Presidential Award for Excellence

Cathie Lavis, Landscape Management Specialist, has been selected to receive the 2014 Presidential Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising, from Kansas State University.

Craver receives $10,000 Scholarship

Josh Craver has been awarded a $10,000 Ecke Graduate Student Scholarship from the American Floral Endowment. Joshua Craver, who will soon earn a graduate degree at Kansas State University and begin a doctoral program at Purdue University, and Emma Lookabaugh, a doctoral student at North Carolina State University, were both awarded the $10,000 scholarship. “Generally only one Paul Ecke Jr. Scholarship is awarded each year, but this year AFE made an exception to award a scholarship to two remarkable candidates,” said Dwight Larimer, AFE Education Committee chairman and DESIGN MASTER color tool, inc. president. “These students show great promise and will be strong assets to the industry. We couldn’t pass them up.” Craver will soon begin pursuing a Ph.D. in horticulture at Purdue University under Roberto G. Lopez, Ph.D. His doctoral research will explore the potential applications for using LED lighting in horticulture.

“Early on in my college education, I uncovered my passion for teaching and research within academia. I have since been chasing this dream, and AFE has been a valuable resource in supporting my efforts,” Craver said. “This scholarship motivates me more than ever to strive for excellence in my schooling and research, in the aims of ultimately giving back more to this industry I have become passionate about." Craver, who said he is deeply honored and grateful to receive the scholarship, is currently working with KSU Professor Kimberly Williams, Ph.D., as a teaching assistant. This work has further solidified his desire to teach. “Josh's enthusiasm for teaching and research with crops produced in greenhouses is sure to have an impact on our industry as his career progresses,” Williams said. “His teaching efforts will contribute to the education of the next generation of growers, and his research will provide solutions to help these growers address production challenges.”