2018
Tifton campus folks celebrated their own May 15, 2018 at the annual University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Tifton Campus Awards Ceremony.
Awards and Recognitions presented for FY2018
(Beginning July 1, 2017 — Ending June 30, 2018)
- Awards for Excellence
- Certificates of Service
- Recent Retirees
- Student Accomplishments
- Special Achievements
Friend of the UGA Tifton Campus Award
Jimmy Champion was presented with the 2018 Friend of the UGA Tifton Campus Award.
Awards for Excellence
| Award | Recipient |
| Senior Scientist - Research | Joann Conner |
| Junior Scientist - Research | Jason Schmidt |
| Senior Scientist - Extension | Dave Moorhead |
| Junior Scientist - Extension | Bhabesh Dutta |
| Teaching | Jacob Segers |
| Technical Support - Senior | Amanda Webb |
| Technical Support - Junior | Ray Boyd |
| Service Unit Support | Karen McBrayer |
| Administrative Support | Pat Thompson |
| Student Employee | Pyne Greene |
| Ambassador | UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center Team |
Student Accomplishments
Fall 2017 Graduates
- Dalton Bennett - Agribusiness
- Nancy M. Bostick - MPPPM
- Garrett R. Brown - Agriscience and Environmental Systems
- Leanna J. Leach - MPPPM
- Danielle Simmons - MS, Crop and Soil Sciences
- Cory L. Smith - Agricultural Education
- David B. Sutherland - MPPPM
- Carter H. Turner - Agribusiness
- Christopher T. Tyson - MPPPM
Spring and Summer 2018 Graduates
- Joshua P. Aaron - Agricultural Education
- Mary K. Allen - Agribusiness
- Bailey A. Atkinson - Cum Laude - Agricultural Education
- Lissi G. Carr - Agricultural Education
- Ethan A. Cody - Agriscience and Environmental Systems
- Clifton L. Collins - Agricultural Education
- Macey P. Connell - Agriscience and Environmental Systems
- Joseph B. Crabtree - MPPPM
- Jackson C. Fleet - Agriscience and Environmental Systems
- Jerrod D. Hardin - Agricultural Education
- Thomas R. Hester - Agricultural Education
- Evan R. Hill - Agriscience and Environmental Systems
- William J. Hinson, Jr. - Agriscience and Environmental Systems
- Megan E. Hise - Agricultural Education
- Nicholas B. Hodges - Agricultural Education
- Jacob R. Kalina - Agriscience and Environmental Systems
- Shelby L. Key - Cum Laude - Agricultural Education
- Katrina Laurel - Master of Science
- Kenneth R. Massey III - Agribusiness
- Levi D. Moore - Summa Cum Laude - Agriscience and Environmental Systems
- Douglas C. Mutert - Agribusiness
- Joshua K. Odum - Agricultural Education
- Kelly N. Paulk - Magna Cum Laude - Agriscience and Environmental Systems
- Kristen D. Pegues - Master of Science
- Pete T. Perrin - Agribusiness
- Sydney D. Pinder - Agricultural Education
- Catherine G. Summers - MPPPM
- Jeremy R. Taylor - MPPPM
- Cole D. Thomas - Agriscience and Environmental Systems
- Bryan E. Tucker - Agribusiness
- Ashton E. Wheeless - Agricultural Education
- Jayda L. Williams - Agricultural Education
Student MVP
(Sponsored by the Georgia Cotton Commission)
- Kelly N. Paulk
Marie Gaskins Prince Scholarship
(Ms. Heather Stripling, Prince Automotive Group)
- Levi Moore
Tift Cultivar Scholarship
(Dr. and Mrs. Wayne Hanna)
- Shelby Key
Certificates of Service
30 Years of Service
- Peggy Ozias-Akins - Horticulture/NESPAL
- Timothy Brenneman - Plant Pathology
- Thomas D. Cook - Entomology
25 Years of Service
- Boen Alan Brock - Attapulgus Research and Education Center
- Debra Rutland - Entomology
- Katherine L. Stevenson - Plant Pathology
- Melissa Tawzer - Animal and Dairy Science
20 Years of Service
- Larry M. Baldree - Crop and Soil Sciences
15 Years of Service
- Ivey W. Griner, Sr. - Stripling Irrigation Research Park
- L. Gail Hargett - Tifton Campus Conference Center
- Christopher Lee Luke - Physical Plant
- Alton N. Sparks - Entomology
- Michael Andrew Tucker - Crop and Soil Sciences
10 Years of Service
- Claudia Dunkley - Poultry Science
- Martha Priscilla Emanuel - Stripling Irrigation Research Park
- Roderick Perry Gilbert - Center of Innovation for Agribusiness
- Pingsheng Ji - Plant Pathology
- Kippy J. Lewis - Plant Pathology
- Barbara Maw - Tifton Campus Conference Center
- Derrick S. Pearce - Southwest Georgia Research and Education Center
- Amanda R. Smith - Agricultural and Applied Economics
- Jenna Clair Smith - Crop and Soil Sciences
- Michael D. Toews - Entomology
- Mitchell Ray Tyson - Tifton Campus Conference Center
- James Robert Wilson - Tifton Campus Conference Center
Recent Retirees
Donna Abad - Business Office
Robert Caldwell - Crop Protection and Management, USDA ARS
Thomas Cook - Entomology
Evelyn Folds - NESPAL
Ronald Gitaitis - Plant Pathology
Franklin Griffin - Animal and Dairy Science
Unessee Hargett - Plant Pathology
Ernest Harris - Southeast Watershed, USDA ARS
Stan Jones - Southwest Research and Education Center
Harvey Kendrick - Field Research Services
Willis Marchant - Animal and Dairy Science
Del Taylor - Horticulture
Larry Walters - Crop Protection and Management, USDA ARS
Earl Whitley - Physical Plant
Randy Williams - Southeast Watershed, USDA ARS
Special Achievements
Collaborative Award
The Kudzu Bug Working Group received the International IPM Award of Excellence. Group members are Philip Roberts, Dan Suiter, John Ruberson, John All, Tracie Jenkins, Stormy Sparks, Joe Laforest, Chuck Bargeron, Michael Toews and Jeremy Greene.
Animal and Dairy Science
John Bernard - Served as president of the American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists.
Entomology
David Riley - Received 2018 Friends of Southern IPM - IPM Educator Award, Southern IPM Center; 2017 ESA National Recognition Award in Entomology, Entomological Society of America; and 2017 Recognition for Outstanding Service as President of the SE Branch of the Entomological Society of America.
Horticulture
Peggy Ozias-Akins - Distinguished Research Professor 2017 - Professor of horticulture widely recognized as world expert on apomixis, the asexual production of seeds in plants. Ozias-Akins took a pioneering approach and applied a combination of forward genetics, genetic engineering and genomics to the problem. She was among the first to ever localize apomixis to a chromosomal region, and later she found the first plant gene associated with apomixis. Her work lays the foundation to begin research into systematic application of apomixis in plant breeding, which could have enormous impact on agriculture in both advanced and developing nations. Ozias-Akins has been equally successful in applying the biotechnological and molecular biology tools that she has developed to specific cases of crop improvement, most notably the peanut. Her decades-long focus on peanut improvement has had significant scientific, agricultural and economic impact.
Erick Smith, Tim Coolong and Pam Knox - Southern Region American Society for Horticultural Science Extension Communication Award for 'Commercial Freeze Protection for Fruits and Vegetables'
Plant Pathology
Tim Brenneman - Received the American Peanut Council Research and Education Award for 2017.
Katherine Stevenson - Received the Outstanding Plant Pathologist Award for 2017 from the Southern Division of the American Phytopathological Society.
Aparna Petkar - Ph.D. student advised by Dr. Pingsheng Ji, received a UGA Graduate School Travel Award to attend the American Phytopathological Society annual meeting in August 2017.
Jeff Standish - Ph.D. student advised by Drs. Katherine Stevenson and Tim Brenneman, received a UGA Graduate School Travel Award to attend the American Phytopathological Society (APS) meeting in August 2017; received the APS Don and Judy Mathre Student Educational Award to attend the 12th International Epidemiology Workshop (IEW12) in Lillehammer, Norway, in June 2018; received the first place award in the graduate student paper competition at the 2018 meeting of the Georgia Association of Plant Pathologists; received a UGA Global Programs Graduate International Travel Award to attend the IEW12 in June 2018; and received the APS Kenneth and Betty Barker Student Travel Award to attend the International Congress of Plant Pathology meeting in Boston in August 2018.