MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Several Mississippi State University faculty and staff members were honored for service at the recent summer celebration of the Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine.

The division presented the 2008 Louis and Doris Wise Support Staff Awards, the Rosalind and Rodney Foil Teamwork Award and the William M. White Special Project Awards during the annual event at the Bost Center. Wise and Foil are former division vice presidents, and White was a dairy producer and MSU financial supporter.

Charles Burkhardt, supervisor of forest and facilities management for the College of Forest Resources, received a Wise award in the professional/nonfaculty category. Also receiving Wise awards were two Delta Research and Extension Center employees: office associate Evelyn Fratesi in the secretarial/clerical category and engineering technician Ronnie Lee in the technical/paraprofessional category.

Receiving the Foil teamwork award were associate professor Sylvia Byrd and assistant professor Brent Fountain, both in the Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion, and the late Joseph Chromiak, former professor in the College of Education’s Department of Kinesiology. The trio was recognized for a study of coordinated school health programs in the Mississippi Delta and Starkville.

The White awards fund research and Extension efforts that promote further development of agriculture and agribusiness in Mississippi.

Ornamental horticulturist Gary Bachman, coastal environmentalist Christopher Boyd, research horticulturist Christine Coker and ornamental horticulturist Mengmeng Gu received a White award for a project to establish a school seedling nursery program for habitat restoration. Bachman, Boyd and Coker work at the Coastal Research and Extension Center, and Gu is on campus in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences.

Research biochemist Ashli Brown and molecular biologist Jeff Wilkinson were honored with a White award for a project addressing bio-analytical concepts in agriculture. Both are members of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Nutritionist Diane Tidwell and food processing specialist Anna Hood were given a White award for a project exploring the nutritional qualities of kudzu. Both are members of the Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion.

Writer: Patti Drapala