The Auburn University College of Agriculture and Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station have announced their 2016 Faculty and Staff Award winners, all of whom will be formally recognized in a college/AAES awards ceremony in February.

The faculty awards and their 2016 recipients are:

  • 2016 Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence—Michelle Worosz, associate professor, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology
  • 2016 Dean’s Award for Advising Excellence—Patricia Duffy, professor, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology
  • 2016 AAES Director’s Research Award for Senior Faculty—Rex Dunham, professor, School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences
  • 2016 AAES Director’s Research Award for Junior Faculty—Matt Catalona, assistant professor, School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences
  • 2016 Excellence in Extension and Outreach Award for Senior Faculty—Gene Simpson, professor, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology
  • 2016 Excellence in Extension and Outreach Award for Junior Faculty—Kim Mullinex, Department of Animal Sciences
  • 2016 Guthrie Award for Achievement in International Agriculture—co-recipients Allen Davis, School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences; and Dennis Shannon, professor, Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences
  • 2016 High-Impact Paper Award—Valentina Hartarska, professor, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology.
  • 2016 Faculty Project Team Award—Aquaponics team, including Terry Hanson and Jesse Chappell, School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences; Daniel Wells, Department of Horticulture; David Blersch, Department of Biosystems Engineering; and Tung-shi Huang, Department of Poultry Science.

Meanwhile, 16 College of Agriculture faculty members who brought in at least $300,000 each in extramural research grants and contracts over the fiscal year are the 2016 Dean’s Grantsmanship Award winners. Those scientists—who represent the Department of Animal Sciences; the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology; the School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences; and Auburn’s Water Resources Center—are:

  • ANSC associate professor Christy Bratcher;
  • SFAAS assistant professor Matthew Catalano;
  • SFAAS professor Allen Davis;
  • ENTM/PLPA associate professor Leonardo de la Fuente;
  • SFAAS professor Dennis Devries;
  • SFAAS professor Terry Hanson;
  • ENTM/PLPA assistant professor Alana Jacobson;
  • ENTM/PLPA professor Joseph Kloepper;
  • SFAAS associate professor Eric Peatman;
  • SFAAS research fellow Steve Sammons;
  • ENTM/PLPA professor Ed Sikora;
  • BSEN professor and Water Resources Center director Puneet Srivastava;
  • SFAAS associate research professor LaDon  Swann;
  • SFAAS professor Stephen Szedlmayer;
  • SFAAS associate professor Bill Walton;
  • SFAAS associate professor Rusty Wright.

Collectively, the 16 were awarded $8.3 million in grants and contracts.

In other honors, five top-performing college and AAES staff members are recipients of the 2016 Employee of the Year Award. They are:

  • Rickey Beavers, ag technician, Plant Science Research Center;
  • Heath Hoffman, research associate, Department of Horticulture;
  • Satrina Kelley-Jordan, administrative associate, College of Agriculture Student Services;
  • Will Rankin, accountant, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology;
  • Eric Reutebuch, research associate, Auburn University Water Resources Center.

All 2016 faculty and staff award winners will be recognized during the college/AAES awards ceremony, set for Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2017, at 3 p.m. at the Auburn Alumni Center.