Friends and colleagues from across the Texas Tech University campus were on hand today (Aug. 28) for a retirement reception honoring Richard Zartman, After more than four decades of teaching, research and eventual administration of Texas Tech's Department of Plant and Soil Science, Zartman has announced that he will retire from his post as chairman and Leidigh Professor of Soil Physics. His last day will be Aug. 31. Among the keynote speakers at the reception were, Michael Galyean, Dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources; Cynthia McKenney, Tech's Rockwell Endowed Professor of Horticulture in Plant and Soil Science; and Ernest Fish, former chairman of Tech's Department of Natural Resources Management. Zartman has served as chairman of the department from 2011-2014. He joined Tech's faculty in 1974 as an assistant professor of soil physics and was named a full professor in 1991. He was named associate chair in 1998 and served as interim chairman of the department during the fall of 2000.

CONTACT: Michael Galyean, Dean, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2808 or michael.galyean@ttu.edu v

0828NM14 / PHOTO: N Martin