AUBURN, Ala.—The Auburn University Office of Sustainability recently announced its 2014 Spirit of Sustainability Award recipients, naming several individuals affiliated with the College of Agriculture as recipients. Bill Walton and researchers from the Auburn University Shellfish Laboratory, Judd Langham, a graduate of the Department of Horticulture, and Sara Geonczy, a student in the Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences, were recognized for their commitment to sustainability.
Bill Walton and a team of researchers of the Auburn University Shellfish Laboratory, a unit supported by the College of Agriculture, were recognized for their efforts to develop off-bottom oyster farming in the Gulf of Mexico. Since the lab’s founding in 2003, researchers have developed oyster breeding stock and trained farmers in Alabama’s Gulf Coast region who have gone on to establish commercial farming operations that have contributed significantly to local economies while helping protect the integrity of fragile marine systems. Additional members of the research team honored with the Spirit of Sustainability Award are Scott Rikard and Glen Chaplin of the Auburn University School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences.
Judd Langham, a 2003 graduate of the Department of Horticulture, was honored for the commitment to sustainability evidenced in his work as principal landscape architect for Auburn-based 2D Studio, LLC, and as an instructor in the university’s Master of Landscape Architecture program. Langham’s focus on creating landscapes that work in harmony with both nature and people earned him the distinction.
Sara Geonczy, who will graduate May 3 with a bachelor’s degree in environmental science, received the William Olson Student Achievement Award. Having served in various capacities within the Office of Sustainability, the Waste Reduction and Recycling Department, the Auburn Real Food Challenge, the community garden and Tiger Dining, Geonczy displayed her commitment to sustainability in both her academic and extracurricular pursuits. A native of Alpharetta, Ga., she is also the 2014 President’s Award recipient for the College of Agriculture.
The Spirit of Sustainability Awards were established in 2013 to recognize individuals and groups who exemplify the Auburn spirit by contributing to campus or community sustainability in the areas of nature, economics, society and well-being. For more information, contact Jennifer Morse of the Office of Sustainability at 334-844-7777 or sustain@auburn.edu.
