Gamma Sigma Delta initiates three * Past state 4-H leaders honored * Food science department head receives international recognition * Zoology professor accepts national award

In April ceremonies, the N.C. State University chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta, the honor society of agriculture, initiated three individuals who have shown distinguished service and leadership. U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, Paula Woodall and Maurice A. Weaver were recognized for service to the cause of agricultural development and for accomplishments related to agriculture:

• Etheridge represents the 2nd Congressional District of North Carolina. He lives in Lillington, where he is a businessman and part-time farmer. He is one of the few congressmen in Washington who have a farm and still actively participate in running it. He currently serves on the U.S. House Agriculture Committee. He came to Washington upon completing his second term as the state superintendent of public instruction. A graduate of Campbell University, he has been a champion of agriculture and life sciences and higher education throughout his public service career.
  
  
• Paula Woodall, an active member of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Alumni Society, is branch manager of the Cape Fear Farm Credit in Clinton. She holds two degrees from the College, a 1986 bachelor’s degree in agronomy and a 1998 master’s. While an N.C. State student, she received the Commissioner of Agriculture Award for distinguished service to agriculture. She grew up on a tobacco farm in Johnston County and still participates in running the farm with her family.
  
  Maurice A. Weaver is a 30-year veteran of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Weaver, who holds a 1963 bachelor’s degree in accounting from East Carolina University, also served four years with the state auditor and three years with former Gov. Robert Scott in the state budget office. He lives in Fuquay-Varina.

Gamma Sigma Delta began as a professional agricultural fraternity at Ohio State University in 1905. The society’s objectives are to encourage high standards of scholarship in all branches of agriculture and life sciences, as well as to encourage and recognize excellence in education and in the practice of agricultural pursuits.

—Terri Leith

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“Through the Years With Our State 4-H Leaders” was the theme at an April banquet honoring four past state 4-H leaders and a program administrator. Dr. Carlton Blalock, Dr. Chester Black, Bill Cooper, Dr. Donald Stormer and Dr. Dalton Proctor were celebrated for their service to the organization.

Among those appearing in the program were Bob Allen, president of the North Carolina 4-H Development Fund.

Allen pointed out, “We have leaders here from every decade of 4-H history since 1920,” and Dr. Mike Davis, state 4-H leader, said to the honorees, “We want to acknowledge the important roles that all of you have played. We are truly standing on the shoulders of giants.”

Blalock, currently president of the Cooperative Extension Foundation, was state 4-H leader from 1964 to 1970. He also served as director of what was then known as the Agricultural Extension Service and president of the 4-H Development Fund.

Black came from Missouri in 1970 to head the North Carolina 4-H program. He also served as director of the Agricultural Extension Service and chaired the national Extension Committee on Policy.

Cooper served as program coordinator of 4-H Club work at N.C. A&T State University. He was selected as a specialist in 1945 by L.R. Harrill to lead 4-H programs in 43 counties, with an enrollment of 30,000, a number which grew under his leadership.

Stormer came from Texas to serve as state 4-H leader for eight years. He went on to assume leadership of the 4-H program with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Proctor was state 4-H leader from 1984 to 1995. He had previously served as agent in Greene and Caswell counties. He grew up in Wilson County where he was a 4-H livestock participant.

The five were presented silver bowls with the inscription “Celebrating 4-H Through the Years.”

— Terri Leith

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Dr. Kenneth R. Swartzel, William Neal Reynolds Professor and head of the College’s department of food science, received the 1999 Food Engineering Award from the International Association of Food Industry Suppliers Foundation (IAFIS) and the Food and Process Engineering Institute.

Swartzel was recognized for his outstanding contributions to food engineering in the areas of reaction kinetics, heat transfer and fluid flow in thermal processing. He received the award this spring at the IAFIS convention in Puerto Rico.

The award recognizes those who have made significant engineering contributions in research, development or design of food processes for the food industry. This is only the 14th time the combined-society award has been presented since its inception in 1972.

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Dr. John Vandenbergh, North Carolina State University zoology professor, recently accepted a national award on behalf of the North Carolina Association for Biomedical Research. The award was presented in recognition of an outstanding advocacy program for biomedical research.

Vandenbergh, NCABR chair, traveled to a ceremony at the National Academy of Sciences’ Great Hall in Washington, D.C., to accept the award from U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

“The NCABR has been supported by all the major biomedical research institutions in North Carolina,” says Vandenbergh, of N.C. State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “It has become a premier educational and advocacy organization in support of improving human and animal health.”

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