Two College of Agriculture faculty members were recognized last night at the Auburn University Office of the Provost Professorship Dinner and Ceremony. Rex Dunham, alumni professor in the School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences, was recognized as the newly appointed Butler-Cunningham Eminent Scholar. Art Appel, professor in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, was recognized as the newly appointed faculty endowed professor in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology.
Dunham was recognized for becoming the fourth Auburn faculty member to be named the Butler-Cunningham Eminent Scholar in Agriculture and Environment.
The Butler-Cunningham endowed eminent scholar position, which is administered through the College of Agriculture, was established at Auburn by Eugene Butler and Emory Cunningham in 1990. Butler was the long-time editor of the Southwest version of Progressive Farmer Magazine, which his father launched in 1900. Cunningham, an Auburn alumnus with a degree in botany, was the long-time president of Southern Progress Corp., the parent company of Progressive Farmer and Southern Living. He also served on Auburn’s Board of Trustees for 12 years.
Dunham earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Illinois in ecology, ethology and evolution in 1978 and his master’s and doctorate from Auburn in 1979 and 1981, respectively.
Appel’s appointment to faculty endowed professor began on Oct. 1, 2019, and will continue until Sept. 30, 2022.
Appel previously served as the interim dean for the College of Agriculture and interim director of the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station in 2015-16. Before his appointment as interim dean, Appel served as chair of the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology.
Appel is a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles with a B.A. in biology. He holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in urban entomology from the University of California at Riverside. He joined the Auburn faculty in 1985.
College of Agriculture Dean Paul Patterson said both Dunham and Appel are excellent choices for their respective positions.
“Drs. Dunham and Appel have each contributed in major ways to their respective disciplines, and they are well deserving of these distinctions,” Patterson said. “For many years, their work has been vital not only to the Auburn community but to communities throughout the world.”
