Texas Tech's Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources lost a core member of its Department of Plant & Soil Science with the passing of a 25-year veteran professor and administrator Dick Auld on Sept. 30 in Lubbock. The Hobbs, New Mexico native, who served within the academic unit from 1991 through his retirement in 2016, was inducted into the department’s ‘Hall of Fame' in 2023.
“Dr. Auld was my mentor when I came to Texas Tech, and he went out of his way to help young faculty members, graduate students, and undergraduate student workers,” said Glen Ritchie, professor of crop physiology and chair of the Department of Plant & Soil Science. “In addition to his research, his legacy will be his former students and how he cared for others and went out of his way to guide them to success.”
While at Texas Tech, Auld's research has focused on using plant genetics to develop commercial crop varieties which produce unique products with enhanced value. Much of his work concentrated on developing cultivars of canola, cotton, and minor oilseed crops. His projects centered on the development of industrial oilseed crops for use in the renewable production of biofuels and industrial biopolymers.
According to colleagues who know Auld, he was more than his academic and research accomplishments. It was his uniquely humorous and people-first approach to life and leadership that had had a lasting impact on not only the institution, but on all who had the opportunity to work and study with him.
"In 1991, Dr. Auld took a broken department that had lost three faculty members in one year and pulled them together," said Cynthia McKenney, a Department of Plant & Soil Science emeritus faculty member. “Dick had a role in very many of the positive changes in the Department of Plant & Soil Science during his 25 years at Texas Tech."
Prior to joining the Texas Tech faculty in 1991 as professor and department chairman, Auld served as an assistant, associate and full professor at the University of Idaho. In addition, he served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne. Auld received a bachelor's and master's degrees in agronomy and plant breeding from New Mexico State. His doctorate in plant science, genetics and breeding was from Montana State University.
He was recognized as a Fellow of both American Society of Agronomy and the Crop Science Society of America, and a Distinguished Alumni by New Mexico State University. Other honors include the Texas Association of Crop Consultants' Public Service Award; Texas Seed Trade Association's Distinguished Service Award; and Big 12 Center for Economic Development's Big 12 Hero Award.
CONTACT: Glen Ritchie, Department Chair, Department of Plant & Soil Science, Texas Tech University at (806) 834- 4325 or glen.ritchie@ttu.edu
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