Texas Tech University

2009 Hall of Fame Award Winners

Hall of Fame, Distinguished Service Award – William Bennett

Bennett

William Bennett, the recipient of this year's ‘Distinguished Service Award,' joined the Texas Tech faculty in 1968 and served until his retirement in 1997 in a number of capacities. He taught in the Department of Plant and Soil Science, served as an assistant dean for the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, and became the Director of Development in 1984.

Hall of Fame, Horizon Award – Mandy Carr

Carr

Mandy Carr, recipient of this year's ‘Horizon Award,' is currently the Executive Director for Research and Group Leader for Safety, Nutrition, and Product Enhancement Research Programs at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. She also leads the NCBA Safety Strategy Team, comprised of team members from retail, foodservice, issues and reputation management, policy and research, charged with working to improve the safety of beef.

Hall of Fame, Advanced Graduate of Distinction Award – Tommy Wheeler

Wheeler

This year's recipient of the department's ‘Advanced Graduate of Distinction Award' was Tommy Wheeler. Wheeler, a native of Muleshoe, graduated from Texas Tech with his bachelor's in agricultural economics and a master's in meat science. He subsequently earned his doctorate in meat science from Texas A&M. Soon after earning his doctorate, he joined the Meats Research Unit staff of the Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center of USDA-ARS in Clay Center, Neb. as a research food technologist.

Hall of Fame, Graduate of Distinction Award – Janeen Salak-Johnson

Johnson

Janeen Salak-Johnson was honored as the department's ‘Graduate of Distinction' recipient. She earned her bachelor's, master's and doctorate in animal sciences from Texas Tech. She went on to do her post-doctoral training at the University of Minnesota in Immunology and Neurosciences, where she received two post-doctoral fellowships, a NIH Postdoctoral Training Fellowship in Psychoneuroimmunology and a NIH-NSRA Post-doctoral Fellowship in Pain.

Animal & Food Sciences