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2008-09 Alumni Award Recipients

• 2008-09 Hall of Fame Award
• 2008-09 Outstanding Recent Alumnus Award
• 2008-09 Outstanding Alumni Leadership Award
• 2008-09 Outstanding Ambassador Award
• 2008-09 Outstanding Faculty Service Award
• 2008-09 Outstanding Departmental Alumni Awards
• 2008-09 Outstanding Departmental Recent Alumni
• Past Alumni Award Recipients

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Hall of Fame

 

William C. Latham , (center), Eric Frazier, president of CALS Alumni Organization (right) and Loke Kok, interim dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

William C. Latham of Haymarket, Va., and the late William E. Skelton of Blacksburg, were inducted into Virginia Tech's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame honors those individuals who exemplify career accomplishment and for their service to the college and university. “Bill Latham and Bill Skelton are truly deserving of this recognition. They have been instrumental in helping advance Virginia Tech’s land-grant mission of learning, discovery, and engagement,” said Loke T. Kok, interim dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “Through their support and dedication to the college and university, we have been able to provide resources that greatly enhance our students’ educational experience.”

A 1955 graduate of Virginia Tech, Bill Latham returned home to Haymarket to operate Waterloo Farm, a 700-acre dairy and general farm where Bill and his wife Betty raised four children. In 1973, the Lathams founded Budget Motels Inc. Latham has served the university tirelessly for more than 50 years. He served two-terms on the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors, where he chaired the Building and Grounds Committee and was also appointed vice rector. He also served on the National Leadership Campaign Committee for the university’s Alumni and Conference Center Campaign; filled leadership roles in Virginia Tech’s two earlier capital campaigns, and served as co-chair for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Campaign Committee. In 1996, he received the Alumni Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his service and dedication to the university and received the 2007 William H. Ruffner Medal, the university's most prestigious honor. The Latham family’s generosity to Virginia Tech is evident in scholarships, research, and enhancements for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences including the livestock teaching arena, the Northern Virginia 4-H Center, and the agriculture research building, which bears the Latham name. Bill and Betty are members of the President’s Circle of the Ut Prosim Society, which is the university’s most prestigious donor recognition society for those whose lifetime philanthropy has reached an outstanding level.

Bill Skelton was known worldwide for his exceptional lifetime of outstanding service to others. He lived by three mottos: "To Make The Best Better," "That I May Serve,” and "Service Above Self.” These three mottos for 4-H, Virginia Tech, and Rotary International, respectively, summarize his selfless commitment to serving others. Skelton devoted nearly 70 years to serving Virginia Tech and the surrounding community in various roles, including volunteer fundraiser, reunion organizer, leadership board member, and campaign chair. He led the effort to build an alumni conference center at Virginia Tech, serving as chair of a committee that oversaw the planning, design, and fundraising for the $45 million center, which included an attached hotel. The complex was named the Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center, to recognize the tremendous service to the university by Skelton and his wife Margaret. Skelton grew up on his family's tobacco farm in Dinwiddie County. He enrolled in the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets in 1936 and worked his way through college, graduating in 1940, with a bachelor’s of science in agricultural engineering. Skelton began his career in Virginia Cooperative Extension as a 4-H agent in Appomattox, Va. He served in World War II as a United States Army officer in Trinidad and in the African and Italian theaters, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. After the war, Skelton earned his master's and doctorate in educational administration at Cornell University. Skelton was a former dean of the Extension division at Virginia Tech who began his career at the university as director of 4-H programs and Virginia Cooperative Extension. After his 40 years of outstanding volunteer service to the Smith Mountain Lake 4-H Educational Conference Center, the center was renamed in Skelton’s honor in 2004. In 2008, Skelton was presented the Council for Advancement and Support of Education’s Ernest T. Stewart Award for Alumni Volunteer Involvement. This award is the highest honor that the council gives to an alumni volunteer. Skelton was also known worldwide for his leadership in Rotary International. He served as club president, district governor, president of Rotary International, and had numerous international leadership assignments. He was honored for his role in helping to launch PolioPlus, Rotary’s massive project in support of the worldwide eradication of polio.

Outstanding Recent Alumnus in the College 

Scott Radcliffe (center), Joseph Fontenot, professor emeritus of animal and poultry sciences (second from right), David Gerrard, head of the department of animal and poultry sciences (right), and Loke Kok, interim dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

John Scott Radcliffe (animal and poultry sciences '95, M.S. '97, Ph.D. '00) of West Lafayette, Ind., was named the Outstanding Recent Alumnus from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Each year the Virginia Tech Alumni Association honors one alumnus from each academic college who has graduated within the past 10 years. Radcliffe is an associate professor of animal science at Purdue University, where he has been a faculty member since 2001. Through his work and dedication at Purdue, Radcliffe has won nearly $2 million in grants and gifts to support research and graduate students. While pursuing his master’s degree in 1996, Radcliffe spent six months in The Netherlands, where he learned a technique for placing steered ileo-cecal valve cannulas into pigs. He brought the procedure back to Virginia Tech, making it the first institution in the United Sates to implement this procedure. Radcliffe has been the recipient of many other awards, including the Purdue College of Agriculture Dean’s Team Award, the Virginia Tech Chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta Graduate Dissertation Award, and the John Lee Pratt Animal Nutrition Senior Research Scholarship. Radcliffe’s research and work has been featured in 122 scholarly publications, including 23 refereed journal articles, two book chapters, 66 research abstracts, and 19 papers in conference proceedings.

Outstanding Alumni Leadership Award

Jim McKenna (center), Eric Frazier, president of CALS Alumni Organization (right), and Loke Kok, interim dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

James McKenna (Ph.D. agronomy '88) of Blacksburg, Va., received the Outstanding Alumni Leadership Award for his guidance and service to the alumni organization. McKenna is a professor and the interim head of the Department of Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences (CSES). He has been a CSES faculty member for more than 20 years. McKenna’s primary responsibilities have been teaching, serving as academic coordinating counselor for the undergraduate program – advising first-year students in the traditional CSES options, and all CSES students in the crops and international options – and acting as advisor to the Agronomy Club. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, such as the Wine Award for Teaching and the University Award for Excellence in Advising. McKenna also serves as editor of the department newsletter, CSES News, which is published annually to keep the department’s alumni engaged and informed. McKenna knew he wanted to be a permanent part of the college since arriving at Virginia Tech. He proudly wears his class ring, which has not left his finger in more than two decades. Students and alumni are honored to have McKenna as a part of the Hokie Nation. The number of lives he has touched as an advisor, teacher, mentor, and friend abound.

Outstanding Ambassador Award

Molly Stedfast (center ), Eric Frazier, president of CALS Alumni Organization (right), and Loke Kok, interim dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Molly Stedfast of Norfolk, Va., was recognized with the Outstanding Ambassador Award. Presented annually, the award recognizes an outstanding member for his or her leadership and service to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Ambassadors program and to the college. Stedfast has served as a college Ambassador since 2007 and is currently the groups' events chairperson. Through the Ambassadors organization, she provides exceptional assistance to the college’s recruitment, alumni relations, and career services staffs, and she shines as one of the program’s most dependable and enthusiastic members. Stedfast volunteers with a broad range of events and activities – from mentoring incoming first-year students to leading alumni and potential students on tours of the campus.Her commitment to recruiting students to the college does not stop at the borders of the Virginia Tech campus. Last fall, she traveled to Indianapolis for the National FFA Convention where she helped with the college’s career show exhibition booth and shared her experiences at Virginia Tech with potential students. For the past two years, Stedfast has co-chaired the Ambassador’s Relay for Life team, and this year, she led the effort to merge all clubs and organizations in the college into one Relay for Life team. Stedfast is active in Alpha Zeta fraternity, Sigma Alpha sorority, and the College Leadership Council. She plans to graduate in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and minors in entomology and chemistry.

Outstanding Faculty Service Award

        

Dixie Reaves (center), Eric Frazier, president of CALS Alumni Organization (right),, and Loke Kok, interim dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Dixie Reaves (agricultural and applied economics '86, M.S. '89) of Blacksburg, Va., was recognized with the Outstanding Faculty Service Award. Each year, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Alumni Organization recognizes a faculty member who has exhibited outstanding service and dedication to the college. Reaves is an associate professor of agricultural and applied economics. Since joining the faculty in 1993, Reaves has delivered numerous presentations throughout Virginia, at national conferences, and internationally in the United Kingdom, Spain, Canada, and South Africa. In the months following the tobacco buyout, she spoke to producer groups across the commonwealth, helping them understand the repercussions of what was considered one of the biggest agriculture policy changes of the last century. As an advocate for youth and for Virginia Tech, Reaves has also been extremely active in youth education and recruitment efforts. She has served on the planning and selection committees of the Virginia Council of Farmer Cooperatives Youth Leadership Committee for the last 13 years. Reaves has been elected to leadership roles in professional associations, such as being elected treasurer, and then president, of the Food Distribution Research Society. She has also worked on regional and national award selection committees for teaching and Extension, and she is active in Virginia’s agriculture industry, serving as a public director to the Virginia Farm Bureau Board.

Outstanding Alumni in International Programs Award   

        
Pedro Pablo Pena (center ), Eric Frazier, president of CALS Alumni Organization (right), and Loke Kok, interim dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Pedro Pablo Peña (M.S. agricultural economics '91) of the Dominican Republic was given the Outstanding Alumni in International Programs Award. The award recognizes a College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumnus or alumna who has exhibited significant service or contributions to the areas of international agriculture, the life sciences, and the college. Since completing his master’s degree, Peña has designed and implemented both degreed and non-degreed training programs in domestic and international agriculture that have served hundreds of students and professionals from the Dominican Republic. His ability to get to the heart of an issue and to work extremely well with people has carried him a long way in his internationally oriented career. At the Center for Agricultural Development and Forestry in the Dominican Republic, Peña was responsible for the development of 10 master’s degree programs in four Dominican universities and for overseeing a program that sent graduate students to the United States and other countries for training. Peña has also helped coordinate activities in the Dominican Republic for the Integrated Pest Management Collaborative Research Support Program – a project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and managed by Virginia Tech through the Office of International Research, Education, and Development.

 

Outstanding Departmental Alumni Awards

Outstanding Departmental Recent Alumni Awards

Agricultural & Applied Economics Patricia Chou B.S. ’99 Jacksonville, FL	Agricultural & Extension Education Dr. Mary McFerren Ed.D. '07 Christiansburg, VA	Agricultural Technology Brian Doyle A.A. ‘ 02 Roanoke, VA
Animal & Poultry Sciences Dr. J. Scott Radcliffe B.S. '95 M.S. '97 Ph.D. '00 West Lafayette, IN	Biochemistry Dr. Brian Lower Ph.D. '01 Columbus, OH	Biological Systems Engineering Amy Alber B.S. ‘01 Forest, VA
Crop & Soil Environmental Sciences Dorothy Birch B.S. ’99 Milton, FL	Dairy Science Dr. Miriam Weber Nielsen M.S. ’95 Ph.D. '98 East Lansing, MI	Entomology  Dr. Gabriella Zilahi-Balogh Ph.D. ‘01 Kelowna, BC, Canada
Food Science & Technology  Dr. M. Wes Schilling  B.S. ’97 M.S. '99 M.S. '02 Ph.D. '02 Mississippi State, MS	Horticulture  Josh Kane B.S. ’98 Potomac Falls, VA	Human Nutrition, Foods, & Exercise  Kimberly Freitag Stitzel B.S. ‘96 M.S. '98 Dallas, TX
	Plant Pathology, Physiology, & Weed Science Dr. Kevin Bradley Ph.D. '00 Columbia, MO

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