The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
To view the 2004 ANR Alumni Association Award recipients, click here.
To view the 2005 ANR Alumni Association Award recipients, click here.
To view the 2006 ANR Alumni Association Award recipients, click here.
For a complete list of past recipients of ANR Alumni Association Awards, click here.
Richard M. (Rick) Foster was presented the Honorary Alumnus Award, Ghassem R. Asrar and Rebecca Humphries received Outstanding Alumnus Awards, and Dr. Richard (Rich) Merritt was honored with the Distinguished Faculty Award. A new award, honoring alumni service was also presented. Edward A. Church and Michael Palmer received the Alumni Service Award.
For a copy of the ANR Week Luncheon program, click here.
For a list of past recipients of ANR Alumni Association Awards, click here.
Dr. Richard Foster has contributed significantly to communities, agriculture and natural resources in Michigan and around the world in his role as vice president for programs at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF). He guides foundation efforts in food systems, rural development, and leadership and serves on the executive team that provides overall direction to the foundation.
Rick Foster joined WKKF in 1991 as a visiting professional while on sabbatical leave from the University of Nebraska, where he served as a professor of agricultural education. Prior to that, he worked in international development activities at the School of Agriculture for the Humid Tropics (E.A.R.T.H.) in Costa Rica. Dr. Foster was selected for a staff position as a program director in 1992 and appointed vice president in 1995. Previously, he taught at Iowa State University, the University of Idaho, and the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. He also was a Group VIII Kellogg National Fellow.
Rick Foster has been recognized for his work by honors that include the National FFA Honorary American Farmer Degree; an honorary doctorate from the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore; and the Kellogg Fellows Leadership Alliance Spirit of Leadership Award.
He has worked diligently to enable the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources to undertake a range of land-grant efforts. His advice and support have made possible the Student Organic Farm; the Land Policy Institute; the W.K. Kellogg Chair in Agricultural, Food and Community Ethics; the Great Lakes Leadership Academy; a new Food and Fitness program and many other initiatives. The CANR has called on Dr. Foster many times to provide insight into major issues. His perspective has contributed tremendously to the success of the college in meeting its land-grant mission.
An exceptional scientist and leader, Dr. Ghassem R. Asrar has served a career in service to science and government that has had a tremendous impact on the advancement of agriculture and a vast array of research priorities across the nation.
Dr Asrar was named deputy administrator for Agriculture and Natural Resources of Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2006 after having worked with the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) for nearly 20 years. At NASA, he served as a University’s Space Research Association visiting senior scientist within the Office of Mission to Planet Earth, then as the chief scientist for the Earth Observing System in the Office of Earth Science and later, as associate administrator for the Office of Earth Science. From 2004 to 2006 he served as the deputy associate administrator for NASA Science Michigan Directorate at NASA Headquarters.
In his many years of association with NASA, he championed many of the space agency’s earth science priorities. He was one of the early pioneers to develop NASA’s Mission to Planet Earth, which became a multi-billion dollar research program focused on understanding global environmental change. As chief scientist for NASA Mission to Planet Earth and Earth Observing System, Asrar established the NASA Earth System Science Education and Fellowship program – a program which has trained more than 800 young scientists to date. He also helped establish Earth science education in K-12 schools across the country and Earth System Science courses at more than 60 major U.S. universities and colleges. While with NASA, Asrar also served on the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education and Economics Advisory Board – a group that provides consultation to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and land-grant colleges and universities on research, extension and educational priorities in food, fiber and agriculture. The advisory board also provides guidance to the White House Science Advisor’s Office, and to U. S. House and Senate agriculture and appropriations committees/subcommittees.
Asrar holds three graduate degrees from Michigan State University: an M.S. in soil biophysics, an M.E. in civil engineering and a Ph.D. in environmental soil physics. He conducted research and trained students for nine years in academia before joining NASA and has authored more than 75 peer-reviewed scientific papers, primarily in the fields of land surface studies and biosphere/atmospheric interactions. He has received numerous awards and honors, including the Distinguished Visiting Senior Scientist Award from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1991, the NASA Exceptional Performance Award in 1997, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 1999, and the NASA Medal for Outstanding Leadership in 2000.
Asrar has left a legacy at NASA in the earth sciences with a programmatic strategy to support scientific research, technology development and satellite missions for future decades. He continues to support scientific research for sustainable agriculture in his present position as deputy administrator for ARS/USDA.
Throughout her 28-year career with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR), Rebecca Humphries has been committed to the sound management of Michigan’s natural resources. Humphries was appointed director of the Michigan DNR in April 2004 and is its first female director.
She began her career at the MDNR in the Real Estate Division in 1978 and was named a resource specialist in the Land and Water Management Division in 1981. She entered the Wildlife Division later that year as a wildlife habitat biologist at the Shiawassee River State Game Area; she was named a district wildlife biologist in Grand Rapids in 1986. In 1996, Humphries was appointed assistant to the resource deputy, where she provided oversight and coordination of department-wide programs and operations and served as a director’s representative on special field assignments in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. She was named acting resource management deputy in May 1997 until her appointment as acting Wildlife Division chief that fall and then Wildlife Division chief in December 1998.
She has been integral to the continued success of the Partnership for Ecosystem Research and Management (PERM), a partnership since 1993 that enhances the ability of MSU and the MDNR to work with other stakeholders to identify significant ecosystem problems and conduct research toward their solution. Humphries works to support future natural resource leaders, as well. She assisted in the development of the Natural Resource Leadership Program and has taken on four female graduate students from the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife as her special assistant. Her leadership, talents, skills, integrity and vision make her a role model for all young professionals in the field.
Humphries is a graduate of MSU with a degree in fisheries and wildlife, and she has completed coursework toward an M.B.A. through the University of Wisconsin. She was awarded an honorary doctorate in public service from Central Michigan University in 2004. She has received numerous awards and honors, including the Safari Club International Biologist of the Year, the CANR Distinguished Service Award and the Michigan State Council of Pheasants Forever Outstanding Contribution Award.
Throughout his career, Edward A Church has been a passionate supporter of both the packaging industry and Michigan State University. Since 1995, Church has been executive director of the International Safe Transit Association (ISTA), an industry organization that develops package-product performance tests, and offers training, education and certification to packaging professionals. Church has also served as president of Management International, Inc. since 1995. He has been a significant contributor to both the development of testing equipment and the methodology behind performance testing.
Church is a recognized leader in the packaging community, and serves on many industry councils and boards. He has served as chairman of the board, national president and chair of the Past Presidents Council of the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP). He is a Certified Packaging Professional member of IoPP and a member of the International Association of Packaging Research Institutes.
With both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in packaging from MSU, Church bleeds green. Throughout his career he has supported packaging education and especially the MSU School of Packaging. He founded the ISTA Educational Foundation to raise funds to support students within university packaging programs throughout the country and is a member of the Packaging Education advisory boards of MSU, the Rochester Institute of Technology and California Polytechnic State University. He has served as the executive director, president and a board member of the MSU Packaging Alumni Association. He is an active member of the school’s Industry Advisory Committee and a participant in its Consortium for Distribution Packaging. In 1995 he was inducted into the MSU Packaging Alumni Hall of Fame. Other honors recognizing his contributions to the packaging industry include being named a Fellow Member by the IoPP in 1996 and Member of the Year in 1998. Last year, his lifetime achievements were recognized by the Packaging Machinery Manufactures Institute and he was inducted into the national Packaging Hall of Fame.
Michael Palmer is the executive director of the Student and Youth Travel Association (SYTA), a professional trade association representing the student and youth travel industry in Mexico, Canada and the United States. Under his leadership SYTA has been the fastest growing association in the travel industry. He also serves as the Executive Director of the SYTA Youth Foundation and is one of the co-founders of the Youth Tourism Consortium of Canada. He is also the owner of Treeline Associates, Inc., a management company that serves nonprofit associations and charities in Michigan and across the nation.
Palmer, who holds a B.S. in resource development from MSU and an M.B.A. from the University of South Florida, is recognized in the travel industry as one of the leading experts on the youth travel market. He has been a speaker at numerous travel and educational conferences, and presents the student and youth market outlook at the Travel Industry Association's annual Market Outlook Forum.
Recognizing a critical need for market-specific data, Palmer began working with the MSU Tourism Resource Center in 2004 to conduct research on behalf of SYTA. To accommodate this growing student and youth travel research agenda, the Student and Youth Travel Research Institute (SYTRI) was established within the Department of Communities, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies (CARRS). Founding members included SYTA, the American Bus Association, National Tour Association, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, New Horizons Tour and Travel, Hostelling International USA, Serendipity Publishing and Travel Adventures, Inc. Michael Palmer has been instrumental in obtaining funding for the institute through SYTA, its associated foundation and the SYTA Research Consortium – thus serving as the catalyst behind both the vision and the implementation of the institute. Palmer has also helped to initiate conversations with industry groups focused on expanding and strengthening academic and outreach programs in tourism at MSU.
Dr. Richard Merritt, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology, is one of MSU’s most distinguished biomedical scholars. He is internationally recognized for the depth and breadth of his research, academic instruction and outreach programs. In addition to his excellence in aquatic entomology, he has become one of the nation’s premier forensic entomologists and has for more than 20 years assisted police departments in Michigan, across the U.S. and internationally with crime scene investigations.
Even with his copious administrative responsibilities, Rich Merritt continues to conduct research, supervise a full compliment of graduate students and maintain his teaching appointment. He is a prolific author, having produced nearly 170 referred publications in his interest areas since 2000, including numerous science publications and more than 25 book chapters. His textbook, An Introduction to the Aquatic Insects of North America, is the global standard for education in this sub-discipline. His work ethic is unparalleled. In all that he does, Dr. Merritt demonstrates the consummate land-grant scholar: he is accessible, does relevant work; speaks and writes in understandable ways; and is always interested in serving the public. Dr. Merritt is one of nine scientists who created the Board Certified Entomologist program to certify individuals to collect and present insect evidence, and is chair of the American Board of Forensic Entomologists and a Fellow in the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. He has been featured many times on news and television programs as an expert on insect evidence.
Dr. Merritt’s excellence is reflected in a research program that has received 26 years of uninterrupted National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health grant funding. He has secured millions of dollars in external funding to support his research, which also funds the work of many graduate students. His most recent research focuses on the bio-monitoring of streams and rivers and the effects of pollutants on aquatic ecosystems, and the ecology of an insect-related disease in Africa (Buruli Ulcer). He leads a large, interdisciplinary NIH-funded study of this devastating disease related to leprosy.
Dr. Merritt has been a member of the MSU Department of Entomology faculty since shortly after receiving his doctorate in entomology and parasitology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1974. He received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Cal State, San Jose in 1968, and a master’s degree in entomology from Washington State University in 1970. He holds joint appointments with the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, and Kellogg Biological Station, with responsibilities in both the CANR and the College of Natural Science. He has been previously honored with Distinguished Faculty Awards from both the College of Natural Science and Michigan State University.