CFAES Connect: September 2020

By Matt Marx 

The campus experience has an atypical look and feel as autumn semester began August 25 at The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES).

Faculty and staff have been preparing for the return of students and the resumption of classes, both virtual and physical, with new procedures in place to safeguard against COVID-19.

“Things look different, but we’re still here for them,” said Krista Scott, CFAES director of undergraduate recruitment and student engagement.

Enrollment figures will not be available until after the 15th day of the semester, but the majority of courses are being taught online.

As of last week, nearly two-thirds of CFAES’ sections offered on the Columbus campus during fall semester are in courses that are fully or partially distance learning. About one-third of college sections involve in-person instruction, including a few designated as hybrids, according to estimates from the college’s Office of Academic Affairs.

These estimates include undergraduate and graduate sections as well as those for one-to-one courses such as internships, independent study, and research. Many distance and in-person course offerings have multiple sections, such as lectures or labs, in which students enroll.

The number of sections available in a distance format is likely to change over the next first few weeks as students revise their schedules and faculty amend course offerings to support student learning.

The in-person sections are limited to 50 students.

Like the rest of the university, CFAES’ Columbus classrooms, as well as those at the college’s Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster, have been reconfigured for physical distancing. Face masks are required on campus, and students, faculty, and staff are being provided with return-to-campus PPE kits to support healthy behaviors. University-wide, faculty have received training on how to handle students who are not following protocols.

To read on, click here.  

As our college faculty and staff welcomed back students two weeks ago and enjoy the renewed energy that every fall semester brings, we reflect upon the times we’ve shared these last several months and recognize that they’ve looked different for everyone. Given the obstacles our students, faculty, and staff have overcome, your support means a great deal now more than ever before.  

As classes are underway, the CFAES community continues to place students first. Student success is one of the college’s campaign priorities in Time and Change: The Ohio State Campaign. CFAES students will be studying a wide range of sustainability-oriented disciplines, taught online in virtual courses and in-person in classrooms, in indoor labs, and in outdoor field labs.  

During this time, CFAES students have become more resilient, and, therefore, they are now certain to be more adaptable in their chosen, ever-evolving career fields.  

We invite you to share an inspiring story from your college days or offer some encouraging words to our current returning students. On social media, please tag us at #CFAESStudentsFirst, so our students can see your message. Timely motivation from someone like you can make a critical difference.  

Thank you for sharing your time and talents with our college.

Feel free to share your advice on all social media platforms, and don't forget to check out the College's Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages!

Two out of the four inductees to the 2020 Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame are alumni of The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES).

Tony Forshey (’77 BS Animal Sciences) and Wendell L. Waters (’69 BS Agricultural Education) were inducted this summer into the hall of fame, which is sponsored by the Ohio Agricultural Council. 

Forshey is Ohio’s state veterinarian and chief of the Ohio Division of Animal Health. He practiced veterinary medicine for 27 years, with an interest in swine production. 

For the past 10 years, Forshey has served as an adjunct professor at the Ohio State College of Veterinary Medicine, where he also earned his DVM. His focus on herd health and disease prevention has been credited with enhancing the growth of the Ohio swine industry.

Learn more about Forshey from this video.

 

Waters, recognized for championing Ohio farmers for 50 years, is founder and owner of WenMar Farms Inc., which consists of 4,000 acres of corn and soybeans and a 3,600-sow farrow-to-finish hog operation. 

He, along with several others, founded the Ohio Corn Growers Association in 1977. In 1994, Waters was instrumental in the formation of the PGI Group, a coalition of hog farmers dedicated to the betterment of the industry.

This video has details about Waters.

 

Also inducted into the 2020 class were Joe Cornely and Larry R. Gearhardt.

Ordinarily, the annual induction breakfast is held during the Ohio State Fair, but the council postponed this year’s event after Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine canceled the fair because of the pandemic.

The CFAES Distinguished Alumni Award gives public recognition to those who have brought distinction to themselves and the college at large through their participation, commitment, and leadership. We have been honoring individuals with this award since 1971, and in that time we have honored 358 individuals. Of those honored over the years, 86% are male, and 14% are female. This compares to the current alumni population that includes 44,554 individuals, with 67% male and 33% female. Honorees of this award represent each of the college's academic units, with 32% coming from the Department of Animal Sciences, 17% from the Department of Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership, and 16% from the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science. We checked in with them to see what they have accomplished since earning their award and what it meant to them. Hear from a few of our honorees below. 

Todd Beckwith, ’83 BS Agricultural Economics 

CFAES Young Professional Achievement Award, 1995

CFAES Distinguished Alumni Award, 2010

Q: Describe what receiving a CFAES Alumni Award meant to you.

A: Receiving both the Young Professional Achievement and Distinguished Alumni awards was a tremendous honor. It was a humbling experience to be included with the distinguished alumni that are past recipients of these awards. This honor has served as a motivation for my career and personal life, to strive to live up to the high standards set by the previous recipients.

Q: What has been your greatest achievement and/or milestone since winning your alumni award? 

A: My greatest accomplishments since winning the alumni awards are the new and continued friendships, both personally and professionally. God has blessed me throughout my career—many of these relationships tie back to Ohio State.

Don Schriver, ’69 BS Agricultural Economics 

CFAES Distinguished Alumni Award, 2002

Q: What has been your greatest achievement and/or milestone since winning your alumni award? 

A: Retiring in 2006 as executive vice president of Dairy Farmers of America, the largest dairy farmer-owned cooperative in the United States, of which I was involved in its formation in 1998, was a special achievement. I immediately became involved as the founding director of Global Dairy Platform (GDP) on behalf of Dairy Management Inc. (DMI) based in Chicago. GDP is an international organization comprised of 70 dairy businesses and support organizations throughout the world, working together to align and support the dairy industry, promoting sustainable dairy agriculture, and encouraging nutrition from dairy.

Q: Do you have other thoughts or comments about your CFAES alumni experience? 

A: Being an Ohio State graduate brings immediate recognition in the U.S.A. and around the world.

Blannie Bowen, ’80 PhD Agricultural Education

CFAES Distinguished Alumni Award, 2009

Q: Describe what receiving a CFAES Alumni Award meant to you.

A: This is a tremendous honor because other fellow Buckeyes thought that my accomplishments were worthy of this recognition.

Q: What has been your greatest achievement and/or milestone since winning your alumni award? 

A: I worked for several more years and retired in 2017 from a position that I found very rewarding both professionally and personally.

David Thorbahn, ’84 BS Dairy Science 

CFAES Distinguished Alumni Award, 2010

Q: Describe what receiving a CFAES Alumni Award meant to you. 

A: It was a great honor for me and my family. It showed the respect the university has for industry and for following its students’ careers after college.

Q: What has been your greatest achievement and/or milestone since winning your alumni award? 

A: I received the Founders Award for organizing and being the first chairman of the North American Intercollegiate Challenge. It is an organization that brings business, academia, and students together in an academic challenge for dairy science students in real work situations. It raises over $200,000 annually and has had over 6,000 student participants in North America. One has now been started in China, with over 65 Chinese universities participating.

Kirby Barrick Jr., ’70 BS Agricultural Education, ’73 MS Agricultural Education, ’80 PhD Agricultural Education

CFAES Distinguished Alumni Award, 2005

Q: Describe what receiving a CFAES Alumni Award meant to you.

A: It is always a great feeling when others recognize your achievements. It is especially meaningful when the recognition comes from your college. With three degrees from OSU in agricultural education, I obviously have tremendous pride in and admiration for the department, college, and university. The Distinguished Alumni Award was a wonderful honor.

Q: What has been your greatest achievement and/or milestone since winning your alumni award? 

A: No one achievement or milestone can be singled out of 46 years in agricultural education. But globally (no pun intended), working with high school teachers, extension personnel, and university faculty throughout the United States and in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Korea, Turkey, and other countries has meant a lot to me professionally. I hope I have helped bring about positive change in teaching and learning for all those whose lives I have been fortunate to touch.

Rob Rettig, ’84 BS Agricultural Economics 

CFAES Distinguished Alumni Award, 2015 

Q: Describe what receiving a CFAES Alumni Award meant to you.

A: Receiving the Distinguished Alumni Award was quite a humbling experience. The validation of years of service to the industry and community(ies) was appreciated. Much more important however was the realization of and appreciation for all of the efforts so many teachers, mentors, and friends had poured into me.

Q: What has been your greatest achievement and/or milestone since winning your alumni award? 

A: I am proud of several accomplishments over the past few years. Our local school district has undertaken meaningful succession planning resulting in the institution being quite well positioned for the future. New Vision Farms, where I currently serve as general manager, continues to develop in terms of personnel and industry relationships and is also well positioned for relative success. And lastly, our family has been extremely well blessed and I am both proud and humbled by the development of our children.

James Starr, ’71 BS Plant Pathology, ’72 MS Plant Pathology 

CFAES Distinguished Alumni Award, 2008

Q: Describe what receiving a CFAES Alumni Award meant to you. 

A: My most treasured award because of the high level of respect I have for the faculty at the OSU Department of Plant Pathology who nominated me for the award. Their apparent respect for me and my academic accomplishments was greatly appreciated.

Q: What has been your greatest achievement and/or milestone since winning your alumni award? 

A: Retirement as a still productive faculty member at Texas A&M, one who had active and productive teaching and research programs up to the very end of my career. I retired in 2013.

David Ames, ’64 BS Animal Science, ’66 MS Animal Science 

CFAES Distinguished Alumni Award, 2006

Q: Describe what receiving a CFAES Alumni Award meant to you. 

A: I was humbled to receive the award from Ohio State after growing up in a rural community and attending a small school. I quickly reflected on my support from grandparents, parents, and other relatives who had encouraged me along the way. I was thankful.

Q: What has been your greatest achievement and/or milestone since winning your alumni award? 

A: I received the award near retirement and since then have enjoyed watching people and programs that I impacted become successful. I have enjoyed the many 100-year celebrations of organizations like 4-H, American Society of Animal Science, Alpha Gamma Rho, and more that have endured for a century. And, I have continued my love of sport as a football official being a part of three national championship events!

Rodney Bothast, ’67 BS Animal Science 

CFAES Distinguished Alumni Award, 2013

Q: Describe what receiving a CFAES Alumni Award meant to you. 

A: A humbling experience and an opportunity to visit the campus and my early research mentors, Drs. Herb Ockerman and Vern Cahill.

Q: What has been your greatest achievement and/or milestone since winning your alumni award? 

A: 2014, Charles D. Scott Award for distinguished contributions to the field of biotechnology for production of fuels and chemicals. 2020, able to enjoy a healthy retirement in the woods of northern Minnesota with my wife of 55 years and nine grandchildren!

Lewis Jones Jr., ’65 BS Agricultural Economics 

CFAES Distinguished Alumni Award, 2017

Q: Describe what receiving a CFAES Alumni Award meant to you.

A: It was a great honor to be selected by the CFAES Alumni Board to join the many who have dedicated a great part of their lives to aid past, current, and future CFAES students.

Q: What has been your greatest achievement and/or milestone since winning your alumni award? 

A: The year 2019 will always be a memorable year for me in Ohio agriculture, as I was awarded the Ohio Farm Bureau Foundation Service Award, and I was selected by the Ohio Agricultural Council to join others in the Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame.

C. Dale Baughman, ’61 BS Agricultural Education 

CFAES Distinguished Alumni Award, 2015

Q: What has been your greatest achievement and/or milestone since winning your alumni award?  

A: Serving as a director of Brookhaven Retirement Community for 27 years, 10 of which included being president and chairman of the board.

Q: Do you have any thoughts about your CFAES alumni experience? 

A: My experience at Ohio State was unique in that I experienced very little in terms of traditional campus life since I never spent a weekend on campus, having had to work on a neighbor’s farm for money to stay in school. I view alumni activites as an opportunity to use available time and resources to make up for lost time, to the extent possible.

Do you know of someone who you think is extraordinary in their field or has given back greatly to the CFAES community? Nominate them for the 2022 Alumni Awards. More information can be found here.