UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences has honored six graduates with 2003 Outstanding Alumni Awards. The award recognizes distinguished graduates of the college and promotes opportunities for interaction between selected alumni, students and faculty. The 2003 Outstanding Alumni are:

--C. Daniel Azzara, vice president of research and development at Hershey Foods Corporation. Azzara joined Hershey Foods as a senior staff scientist in 1986. Prior to being named vice president, he served as manager of ingredients research and director of confectionery/reduced fat and calorie product development. Azzara is joint author of a patent for reduced fat confectionery products and process. He is a member of the Institute of Food Technologists and the Chocolate Manufacturers Association and serves on the boards of the Pennsylvania Manufacturing Confectioners' Association, the National Food Processors Association and the International Life Sciences Institute. He is a board member of the Penn State Food Industry Group and has served on the College of Agricultural Sciences Alumni Society Board of Directors. He earned a bachelor's degree in science education from Virginia Tech in 1978, and master's and doctoral degrees in food science from Penn State in 1984 and 1986 respectively.

--Paul I. Hann, Sr., who recently retired after more than 40 years as manager of poultry business development and national accounts for Purina Mills Division of Land O'Lakes. He continues to work as a consultant to Purina Mills and other poultry industry organizations. He has served as a member and officer of numerous professional organizations and committees and was actively involved in facilitating the merger of the Pennsylvania Poultry Federation with PennAg Industries Association, which resulted in the establishment of the PennAg Poultry Council in 1998. Hann maintains close ties to Penn State's poultry science department through service on both its Industry Advisory Group and Egg Advisory Committee and as a co-founder and president of the newly established Poultry Science Alumni Group. He was also a key player in helping to create the Pennsylvania Poultry Research Check-Off program, which provides significant financial support for applied poultry research conducted by the College of Agricultural Sciences. Hann earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural education from Penn State in 1962.

--H. Duane Norman, research leader at the Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. Norman joined the AIPL as a research geneticist in 1970 and was named research leader in 1988. He developed national genetic evaluations for yield and conformation traits and coordinated research leading to genetic evaluations for mastitis resistance, longevity, calving ease and fertility. He is a fellow of the American Dairy Science Association, which honored him with the 1995 J.L. Lush Award in Animal Breeding and Genetics, one of the highest honors in animal genetics. He has served on and chaired several dairy industry committees and is past president of the National Dairy Shrine. Norman earned a bachelor's degree in dairy production in 1964 and a master's degree in dairy breeding in 1967, both from Penn State. He earned a doctorate in animal breeding from Cornell University in 1970.

--Donald G. Sargeant, chancellor emeritus of the University of Minnesota-Crookston. Before his 1985 appointment as chancellor, Sargeant served as assistant provost for academic affairs, chair of the Agriculture Division and professor of agriculture at UMC. Sargeant is chair of the Midwestern Higher Education Commission for Interactive Courseware and Distributed Learning Workshop Board. He is a member of the Minnesota Educational Telecommunications Council, the Valley Technology Park board, and the Crookston Jobs Inc. board, and is president of the Glenmore Foundation. He has served as a consultant/evaluator for the Higher Learning Commission and as a member of the National Association of College Teachers of Agriculture publications committee, the Minnesota Educational Telecommunications Council, the Northwest Educational Telecommunications System and the Minnesota Campus Compact Steering Committee. Sargeant earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural education and a master's degree in education, both from the University of Illinois, in 1963 and 1966, respectively. He received his doctorate in agricultural education from Penn State in 1970.

--Eileen D. Watson, leader of a global re-engineering project for Syngenta, a world-leading agribusiness specializing in crop protection and commercial seed distribution. She also has served as Syngenta's business planning and forecasting redesign leader. Previously, Watson worked as vice president of product portfolio management in the marketing department of Novartis Crop Protection Inc. and as global head of product management for the Novartis fungicides unit, stationed in Basel, Switzerland. She also held positions at Ciba-Geigy Corporation, where she managed commercial and regulatory affairs. Watson earned a bachelor's degree in plant pathology at Cornell University in 1975. She obtained a master's degree in plant breeding from the University of Nevada at Reno in 1978 and earned a doctorate in plant pathology from Penn State in 1982.

--Steven A. Williams, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Williams oversees the nation's primary wildlife conservation agency, which has more than 7,500 employees and a budget of nearly $2 billion. From 1995 to 2002, Williams served as secretary of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. Previously, he was deputy executive director of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, assistant director for wildlife in the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, and wildlife biologist specializing in research and management for white-tailed deer for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. He earned a bachelor's degree in environmental resource management in 1979 and a doctorate in forest resources in 1986, both from Penn State. He earned a master's degree from the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks in 1981.

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EDITORS: For more information, contact Jillian Stevenson at 814-863-7278.

Contact:

Chuck Gill cdg5@psu.edu 814-863-2713 814-863-9877 fax #287