An expert in finding and controlling biothreat agents and a 32-year former faculty member are outstanding alumni award recipients from the University of Wyoming's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Presented during Ag Appreciation Weekend in August at UW, Ron and Lynne Pulley also received the Legacy Award, BP America the college's Outstanding Research Partner Award and Professor emeritus Stephen D. Miller, the Andrew Vanvig Lifetime Achievement Award.
Kennedy Gauger, recipient of the Outstanding Alumni trophy, received his Ph.D in 1981 and is now principal scientists in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Tex.
Stephen D. Miller
Mervin "Mick" Botkin, also an Outstanding Alumni award winner, graduated from UW in 1948 and received his Ph.D from Oklahoma State University in 1952. He returned to UW as an assistant professor in the Animal Production Department and retired as a professor emeritus in 1984.
The Legacy Award to the Pulleys, formerly of Huntley, Wyo., retired recently from their active life in agriculture. The couple established the Seneka Graduate Assistantship in 2008 to fund graduate students studying food and nutrition.
BP America is receiving the Outstanding Research Partner Award for its support of reclamation research and its funding for the Wyoming Reclamation and Restoration Center in the college. The funding has paid for several projects with the WRRC to identify effective and timely reclamation practices.
Ron and Lynne Pulley
The Center strives to educate in restoration, reclaiming and rehabilitation of disturbed ecosystems based on theoretical ecological principles. It works in conjunction with many state and federal agencies, as well as private energy companies such as BP, perhaps best known for its role in the Gulf oil spill.
The Lifetime Achievement Award to Miller marks the first time recipient for the Andrew Vanvig Lifetime Achievement Award. He received his Ph.D. in agronomy at North Dakota State University in 1973, and joined the UW staff in 1987.
He became director of the Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station in 2005, and retired in 2010.