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Resource Development Awards presented, new endowments celebrated at 2011 joint foundations spring event

The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences presented its 2011 Resource Development Awards April 13, during the annual joint luncheon of the N.C. Agricultural, Dairy and Tobacco Foundations at the N.C. State University Club. The awards, sponsored each year by the N.C. Agricultural Foundation Inc., recognized CALS faculty and student organizations for efforts in raising funds to benefit College programs, as well as volunteer, corporate/foundation and commodity organization support activities. Also during the luncheon, two new endowments were created in support of the N.C. SweetPotato Commission Campaign for Excellence.

Dr. Carolyn Dunn and Dr. Wayne Skaggs were winners of the Faculty Resource Development Award.  Dunn is a professor and associate state program leader in the CALS Department of 4-H Youth Development and Family and Consumer Sciences. Skaggs is a William Neal Reynolds Professor in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering (BAE).

The Student Organization Award for resource development in support of the College went to the Alpha Zeta North Carolina Chapter. Representing Alpha Zeta were the club adviser Dr. Scott Whisnant, club chancellor Matthew Greene, and officers Lindsay Pitts, Lauren Mabry and Cortney Freeman.   

The 2011 Outstanding Volunteer Award winners were Judi Grainger, president of the NCSU Alumni Association Board of Directors, and her husband, Frank Grainger, a member of the UNC Board of Governors and a founding director of the Tobacco Growers Association of N.C., both of whom have contributed to numerous CALS and N.C. State endeavors.

Named the Outstanding Corporate/Foundation Partner was the Weyerhaeuser Corporation and Weyerhaeuser Foundation for its partnership support of the projects of Skaggs and the BAE Department. Drs. Zakiya Leggett and Frank Rackley represented Weyerhaeuser.

The 2011 Outstanding Commodity Organization winner was the N.C. SweetPotato Commission, represented by Sue Johnson-Langdon, Rob Hill, Johnny Barnes, Kendall Hill, Richard Anderson and Andrew Tyson. The commission was recognized for its gifts to the College, including the Covington Endowment for SweetPotato Research and Extension and the funds raised through its Campaign for Excellence, which benefits CALS sweet potato research and Extension programs.

Richard Anderson (front, left) and Andrew Tyson of Nash Produce and Rob Hill (right) of Tull Hill Farms created endowments in support of the N.C. SweetPotato Commission Campaign for Excellence. Behind them are Johnny Wynne, CALS dean, and Sue Langdon-Johnson of the N.C. SweetPotato Commission.

Following the awards presentations, the two new endowments were established in support of the Campaign for Excellence. These were the Tull Hill Farms Endowment, signed by Rob Hill, and the Nash Produce Endowment, signed by Richard Anderson and Andrew Tyson, representing the partners of Nash Produce.

Also announced were the creation of the Frank and Lynette Howell Endowment, established by Frank and Lynette Howell of Howell Farming Co., and the East Coast Equipment Endowment, as well as a major campaign gift commitment by Dr. Craig Yencho and his wife, Dr. Gina Fernandez. – Terri Leith