Category Archives: Awards and Honors

Awards and Honors

Dr. Randy Gardner Wins 2015 All American Selection (AAS) Breeders Cup Award

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Dr. Randy Gardner receives the 2015 AAS Breeders Cup Award.

Dr. Randy Gardner, Emeritus Faculty in the Department of Horticultural Science, was recently awarded the AAS Breeders Cup Award. The award was established in 2004 to recognize a plant breeder who dramatically influenced horticulture by breeding new cultivars that brought significant improvements to those classes. All-America Selections is very proud to recognize Dr. Randy Gardner with this award. Dr. Gardner, renowned tomato breeder, has over 32 years of experience at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center in Mills River, North Carolina. Continue reading →

Dr. Tom Ranney Announced as the New JC Raulston Distinguished Professor

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Dr. Tom RanneyThe Department of Horticultural Science, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the JC Raulston Arboretum (JCRA) are pleased to announce that Dr. Tom Ranney has been selected as the JC Raulston Distinguished Professor. The JC Raulston Distinguished Professorship was established by C.D. Spangler, Jr. and Meredith Spangler in 1998 in honor of the late J.C. Raulston. The goal of the professorship is to enhance the global research, teaching and extension programs in the Department of Horticultural Science with a special emphasis on the JCRA, which was established in 1976 as a result of Dr. Raulston’s vision, tenacity, and professionalism. Continue reading →

2015 ASHS Awards & Recognition

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DR. TOM RANNEY elected ASHS Fellow

ranneyElection as a Fellow of the ASHS Society is the highest honor that can bestow members, in recognition of truly outstanding contributions to horticulture and the ASHS Society.

Dr. Ranney’s research is focused in development of new nursery and bioenergy crops with greater adaptability, pest resistance, and commercial potential; enhancement of production efficiency and quality of crops; performance of basic research in plant science, cytogenetics, and reproductive biology.


DR. PENELOPE PERKINS-VEAZIE awarded ASHS Outstanding Researcher

perkins-veazieThe ASHS Outstanding Researcher Award recognizes a horticultural crops scientist who has had an outstanding record in research on one or more horticultural crops and in one or more areas of horticultural research for a period of 10 or more years.

Dr. Perkins-Veazie’s research areas cover farm to fork fresh storage, quality, food safety, and phytonutrient content of fresh or minimally processed fruits and vegetables. Most research is in areas of caneberry shelf life and watermelon uses as phytonutrient sources for improving human health.

DR. JOHN DOLE is President Elect of ASHS

doleHorticultural Science Department Head and Floriculture Professor. Conducting research primarily on cut flowers (new cultivar evaluations, production studies, postharvest experiments, and marketing analysis), poinsettias, and rooted and unrooted cuttings (production) and postharvest handling.

USDA Specialty Crops Research Initiative Grants Program

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Dr. Julia KornegayDr. Julia Kornegay, Professor and Director of Graduate Programs, has been appointed by USDA as the Panel Manager for the 2015 Specialty Crops Research Initiative (SCRI) Program. She is responsible for the scientific merit review of the grant applications. The SCRI program is administered by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and has an estimated total funding of $49 million. The purpose of the SCRI program is to address the critical needs of the specialty crop industry in the United States by awarding grants to support research and extension that address key challenges of national, regional, and multi-state importance. The projects must address at least one of five focus areas: crop improvement (breeding, genetics, genomics); biotic constraints (pests, diseases, and threats to pollinators); production (handling, processing, productivity, profitability and marketing); new innovations and technologies (mechanization and technologies that delay or inhibit ripening); and food safety (detection, monitoring, control, handling, and processing).