As the spring semester winds down, officials with Texas Tech's College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources took a moment this month to highlight several of its faculty members for their achievements and contributions to the university in the areas of teaching, research and scholarship, and engaged outreach and service.

Among those CASNR faculty who have been recently recognized are:

Darren Hudson – President's Excellence in Teaching Award (CASNR). Hudson is the Larry Combest Endowed Chair for Agricultural Competitiveness and Director of the International Center for Agricultural Competitiveness in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. His research interests include agricultural policy and trade, economic development, marketing and consumer demand, and behavioral economics. He participates in the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute consortium producing annual baseline projections for cotton for the group.

Charles West – Outstanding Researcher Award & 2020 Integrated Scholar. West is the Thornton Distinguished Chair in the Department of Plant and Soil Science and provides administrative leadership of the Texas Alliance for Water Conservation, a consortium of agricultural producers, water districts, government agencies, and researchers to refine and transfer irrigation technology to make efficient use of water supplies. He also has taught and conducted research in environmental restoration and bioenergy crops, and is director of CASNR's Water Center.

Nathan Hall – Texas Tech Alumni Association New Faculty Award (CASNR). Hall is a Companion Animal Science Assistant Professor within Texas Tech's Department of Animal and Food Sciences. The Florida native indicated that he is interested in continuing his research efforts in olfaction in dogs with a focus on applications for pet and working dogs. Recent awards for Hall include the Gerber Behavior Analysis Research Award (2015); a Certificate of Excellence in Reviewing, Behavioral Processes (2014); and the Marian Breland-Bailey Award for Student Research and Scholarship-Association for Behavior Analysis International (2013).

Charles Klein & Muntazar Monsur – President's Emerging Engaged Scholarship Award. The two faculty members from the Department of Landscape Architecture are part of a research team that worked on a project titled Promoting Child Development, Inclusion, and Health through Natural Learning. The award recognizes the team's exemplary and sustained commitment to engagement with community partners and the resulting positive impacts that the work is having on communities and the university.

Lindsay Kennedy & Cindy Akers – President's Exemplary Program Award. Kennedy is an assistant professor of practice in the Department of Agricultural Education and Communications and MILE Program Director, and Akers is Associate Dean of Academic and Student Programs in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resource. The honor was presented for their efforts in leading the CASNR Matador Institute of Leadership Engagement Program. The award recognizes Tech faculty for a longer-term project or initiative that demonstrates a significant and sustained commitment to addressing a community need or larger social issue through active collaboration with community partners.

Erica Irlbeck – Chancellor's Council Distinguished Teaching Award. Irlbeck is an associate professor of agricultural communications within Texas Tech's Department of Agricultural Education and Communications. The award recognizes those who demonstrate excellence in teaching, service to the teaching profession, service to students, professional growth and scholarly activity. Recent honors for Irlbeck include a NARRU Young Educator Award (2015), CASNR Teaching Award (2015), CASNR Junior Faculty Award (2014), and Texas Tech Alumni Association New Faculty Award (2014).

Autumn Acree – Horn Professor Graduate Achievement Award. Acree is a doctoral student in the Department of Plant and Soil Science. Her research is centered on contemporary advancements in soil characterization: geochemical, morphological and spectroscopic approaches. Specifically, she is working to advance portable X-ray fluorescence and visible near infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy characterization of soils. Her doctoral project represents the synthesis of three individual research studies working in Lubbock, Alaska and Romania.

Separately, an Emeritus Faculty Certificate was presented to Steve Fraze, who retired last year as the Shirley L. and LuCille Garrison Endowed Chair in Rural Youth Development and chair of the Department of Agricultural Education and Communications. He also served as Texas Tech's College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources interim dean from 2016 to 2018. He was honored with the Western Region American Association for Agricultural Education's Outstanding Agricultural Educator Award (2015). Separately, he served as associate superintendent of the Livestock Career Development Event for the National FFA Organization.

CASNR also has two current Paul Whitfield Horn Professors, Eric Hequet (2016), an internationally-recognized leader in cotton fiber research and a professor in the university's Department of Plant and Soil Science, and Texas Tech Provost Michael Galyean (2006), who formerly served as CASNR Dean. Horn professorships are the highest honor a faculty member can receive from the university. The award is named for Texas Tech's first president, Paul Whitfield Horn.

CONTACT: William Brown, Dean, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2808 or william.f.brown@ttu.edu

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