Allen Blezek, professor emeritus in the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication, and Roger Mandigo, distinguished professor emeritus of animal science and food science and technology, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will be named Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement honorees at the group's annual banquet March 23.
The banquet honoring Blezek, Mandigo and nine new members of the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement will begin with a 5:15 p.m. social hour followed by a 6 p.m. buffet dinner in the Great Plains Room of the Nebraska East Union on UNL's East Campus.
The banquet costs $25 per person and is open to the public. The deadline for reservations is March 20. To make reservations or for more information, contact Linda Arnold at 402-472-3802.
Blezek is widely recognized as an educator, innovator and leader not only throughout Nebraska but at the national and international levels. His career focused on agricultural leadership development for youth and adults. He served as the Nebraska LEAD Program director for nearly 25 years.
He was a member of the UNL faculty for nearly 32 years. He has served as a graduate faculty fellow, served as a department head from 1987 to 1995, served as the founding director of the UNL Center for Leadership Development from 1989 to 1999, served as president of the UNL Faculty Senate and has chaired and served on many committees throughout the university as well as various professional organizations at the local, state, national and international levels. He has traveled to more than 100 countries.
He has served as both a member and president of several organizations, including the Nebraska Agricultural Leadership Council Inc., the Nebraska Vocational Agricultural Foundation and the Nebraska FFA Foundation.
He is a member of Agriculture Builders of Nebraska, the Nebraska Hall of Ag Achievement, the Nebraska AgriBusiness Club, the Nebraska AgRelations Council and other organizations. He serves as president-elect of the NU Emeriti Association and serves on several foundation boards, including the Nebraska Rural Radio Foundation.
Blezek is well-known and respected for his fundraising abilities for various causes including the Leadership Center near Aurora, Neb., and the Nebraska LEAD Program.
A native of Iowa, he earned his degrees from UNL. He and his wife, Kay, reside in Lincoln.
Mandigo is recognized for his outstanding research, teaching and extension programs in the field of meat processing. He joined UNL as an assistant professor in 1966 and was promoted to professor in 1974.
He was provided emeritus status in 2011, when he retired after 45 years of outstanding service at UNL.
Mandigo was a dedicated teacher and mentor for undergraduates as well, offering new courses in meat processing, merchandising, independent study and a Meat Industry Tour course.
He managed the federal inspected meat science facility and offered numerous practical workshops for meat processors in Nebraska and beyond.
Mandigo's creative research contributions opened new avenues for use of fresh meat and resulted in many value-added products. His pioneering work in restructured meat manufacturing demonstrated how whole muscle cuts with significant amounts of connective tissue and meat pieces could be flaked or ground, mixed and blended with salt and other curing ingredients to produce products that were similar in appearance and eating characteristics to whole muscle cuts such as steaks and roasts. That technology was adopted and used in the food service industry to produce the McRib and similar products.
Mandigo was inducted into the Meat Industry Hall of Fame in 2010 by the America Association of Meat Processors. He also is active in the America Meat Science Association, the American Society of Animal Science, the Institute of Food Technology, American Meat Institute, National Pork Producers Council and other organizations.
He earned degrees from California State Polytechnic University at Pomona, New Mexico State University and Oklahoma State University. He and his wife, Wanda, have three children.
The Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement, formed in 1916, has just over 200 members statewide dedicated to preserving and improving Nebraska agriculture. Each year, the group recognizes at least one honoree and elects new members.
This year's new members are:
– William L. Booker is owner-operator of Booker Farms and retired extension educator of Box Butte County. A leader and innovator in conservation tillage, Booker has worked closely with farmers, youth and industry. He has been active in farm safety programs for youth, and has served in a leadership role for Nebraska AgriAbility. He helped promote biodiesel crop production in western Nebraska, is known as the 'Sunflower Guru' and was one of the first individuals to make GPS work satisfactorily for herbicide application. The production practices Booker promoted to increase crop production include soil testing, precision fertilizing and emphasis on total weed control during fallow. The former Caterpillar research engineer earned his degrees from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. His activities now include president of Farm and Ranch Museum (FARM) Board, and president and board member of Banner County and Bushnell Schools. He and his wife, Mary Joyce, reside at Bushnell, and are parents of six children.
– Chris R. Calkins is an internationally known scientist in the area of beef muscle profiling whose work has resulted in cuts such as the flat iron and ranch steaks. While providing highly palatable products for consumers, these and other newer cuts are estimated by an independent research entity (CattleFax) to increase the average value of a beef carcass by $50-$70. The endowed chair of the Nebraska Beef Cattle Professor of Animal Science has been a member of the Department of Animal Science since 1981. Calkins has earned a score of honors and awards, including the International Meat Secretariat $10,000 World Prize for Meat Science and Technology in 2004 – the only time the prize has been awarded in the U.S. The native of Washington earned his degrees from Texas A&M University and the University of Tennessee. He holds memberships in more than a half dozen professional organizations. He and his wife, Ellen, live in Lincoln, and are parents of two daughters.
– Larry F. Howard since 1985 has been a UNL Extension educator in Cuming County, Nebraska's top agricultural producing county. Cuming County is fifth nationally in cattle sales and 27th nationally in overall agricultural sales. Howard's education and vision have helped achieve these rankings, with his primary focus on environmental and general management for beef and pork producers. Howard hosts tours for international visitors (including Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai), and manages one of the state's most active 4-H youth livestock programs. His many recognitions include 23 national awards and 39 state awards. A former vocational agriculture instructor who earned his degrees from UNL, Howard serves on the board of the National Association of County Agricultural Agents; as well as the West Point Chamber of Commerce, and pork producers and feeder's association groups for Cuming County. He and his wife, Mary, live at West Point, and are parents of three children.
– John W. Scharf is a fourth-generation producer of dryland and irrigated corn, soybeans, wheat and alfalfa. Along with being a Nebraska Certified Seed Grower, Scharf owns a commercial Angus cow-calf herd, and is a research cooperator on groundwater recharge for UNL scientist Derrel Martin. Scharf has served 25 years on the McCook Public Power District Board, and currently is president. He has served on the Dean's Statewide Advisory Council for the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture, is a past board member for the Medicine Valley TeamMates Chapter and past president of the Medicine Valley Public Schools Board of Education. Current memberships for this UNL graduate and LEAD 1 Fellow include Nebraska Cattlemen, Nebraska Farm Bureau, FarmHouse Fraternity, Nebraska Rural Electrical Association and many others. He and his wife, Barbara, live at Curtis, and are parents of a daughter.
– Gerald A. Schmidt is a diversified agricultural producer whose resourcefulness has added value to business ventures especially for hogs and poultry. Schmidt was instrumental in forming the Allied Producers Cooperative. Through this co-op, approximately 40 pork producers in five states have ownership participation in Triumph Foods LLC, a Missouri-based processor that exports its member pork throughout the world. Schmidt is past vice chair of the Triumph board of directors; currently he is a member of the Nebraska Pork Producers, Tecumseh Poultry Growers, the Nebraska Cooperative Council Education Foundation Board and chairs the Farmers Cooperative at Dorchester. Among his most rewarding accomplishments was completing the LEAD program, and being honored as LEAD Alumni of the Year. Schmidt attended UNL, and he and his wife, Marcia, live at Jansen.
– James Specht is a prominent UNL soybean physiologist/geneticist whose efforts and accomplishments since 1975 have greatly impacted Nebraska’s soybean industry. Specht spearheaded development of SoyWater, a Web-based irrigation tool to optimize soybean irrigation. A pioneer of growth stage based irrigation in soybean, Specht has documented the importance of early soybean planting, and currently is involved with soybean DNA genome sequencing. A ‘scientist of unequaled breadth’ who has been honored with two professorships (Charles E. Bessey, 2004, and Francis and Dorothy Haskins, 2010), he received the Crop Science Society of America research award in 1996. Specht actively participates in extension clinics, field days and demonstrations (although he has no extension appointment). The Scottsbluff-area native and adviser to the Nebraska Soybean board has served his country in Vietnam, and earned degrees at UNL and the University of Illinois. Specht and his wife, Pamela, live in Omaha.
– Dave Stenberg is a UNL Extension educator emeritus, having served in Dawson County from 1968-2008. His leadership with youth yielded 34 Dawson County state champion meat teams and five national championships. Stenberg organized the Dawson County Corn Growers; helped grow the county's soybean production from 500 acres to 40,000 acres; conducted 15 irrigation tours and dozens of agricultural workshops; and for county newspapers has written 1,111 columns. He originated, planned and curates the landscape at the Dawson County Fairgrounds. Stenberg recruited 35 participants into the Nebraska LEAD program, and helped recruit the Frito Lay grain handling site to Gothenburg. He initiated and coordinated the Farm Family of the Year recognition for Lexington and Cozad, as well as the Dawson County Cattlemen Hall of Fame. The UNL graduate has earned many extension state and national awards. He and his wife, Peggy, live in Lexington, and are parents of two sons.
– Cheryl Stubbendieck is vice president of public relations for the Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation. From 1982 as editor of Farm Bureau's Nebraska Agriculture newspaper, to today as the organization's key resource person for social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), Stubbendieck is committed to communicating the story of agriculture. Highlights of her career include educating children about agriculture, such as providing leadership for Nebraska's Ag in the Classroom program. In the early 1990s she coordinated AgLink, which took 60 Omaha inner-city children to Nebraska farms for three weeks – many of whom had never been out of the city. Working with the Nebraska State Fair, Stubbendieck launched the State Fair Ag Family of the Day program, which earned an award from the International Association of Fairs and Expositions. The UNL graduate is a Certified Association Executive, and has earned awards from the Nebraska AgRelations Council as well as many writing awards. Stubbendieck and her husband, Jim, live in Lincoln, and are parents of two sons.
– Susan N. Williams is director of UNL's Southeast Research and Extension District, which encompasses 25 counties that serve 70 percent of Nebraska's population. Williams interacts with stakeholders in leading faculty in program development and leads efforts to describe to stakeholders how research and extension education improves lives in their communities. With her support, the southeast district is a leader in on-farm research and last year brought in nearly $1.554 million in grants. The graduate of Kansas State University and UNL is a former extension educator in Saunders and Custer counties. She says her most worthwhile accomplishments include teaching youth and adults and helping others become successful educators. Among her memberships are the World Futures Society and Association Curriculum Development. She and her husband, Richard, live in Wahoo, and are parents of two children.