APLU Announces 2017 Board on Human Sciences Award Winners

Washington, DC – The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) Board on Human Sciences, Inc. (BoHS) today announced three faculty members and a national public servant will be honored with its 2017 Board on Human Sciences Awards. The annual honors are presented to national leaders working to advance human sciences in higher education.

The awards are part of the broader BoHS mission of advancing the intellectual integrity and stature of the human sciences at APLU-member institutions. The awards are aimed at supporting the development and stewardship of academic excellence in human sciences; advocating for visibility and leveraging resources to support human sciences research, extension and teaching programs; and educating leaders regarding the capacity of the human sciences to solve human problems.

This year’s award winners are:

2017 Ellen Swallow Richards Public Service Award

The Honorable Catherine E. Woteki – former Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics and Chief Scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and former Dean of Agriculture at Iowa State University – is the winner of the 2017 BoHS Ellen Swallow Richards Public Service Award. The award honors a nationally-recognized leader who has a significant history of promoting and advancing the human sciences. Throughout her career in academia, industry, and government, Woteki has advanced the missions of human sciences and land-grant universities. She has been a leading advocate for the scientific rigor in public policy and interdisciplinary collaboration. As an academic, she has published research broadly – examining child nutrition, nutrition surveys, assessment of dietary intake, and food safety. Her work has addressed the importance of scientific study to inform public policy, the challenges of communicating scientific information to the public, and the value of accurate monitoring of food safety and human health. Dr. Woteki was Dean of Agriculture at Iowa State where she added new research initiatives in animal genomics, food safety, and water and air quality. She was also instrumental in the creation of the Corn and Soybean Initiative, which enhanced outreach to farmers.

Woteki served as Under Secretary for Food Safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1997 to 2001, where she oversaw the transformation of the inspection system for meat, poultry, and egg products to significantly reduce the burden of human foodborne illnesses and deaths. In 2010, she returned to the U.S. Department of Agriculture as Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics and Chief Scientist. She also oversaw the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Economic Research Service, and National Agricultural Statistics Service in that role.

2017 Lifetime Achievement Award

Dr. Pamela J. White, former Dean of the College of Human Sciences at Iowa State University, is the winner of the 2017 BoHS Lifetime Achievement Award. The award honors a nationally-recognized leader who has a significant history of promoting and advancing the human sciences in higher education. Over her 40-year career at Iowa State, White authored more than 150 research articles, hosted more than 20 post-doctoral fellows, and served on a host of advisory boards that strengthened ties among government, industry, and Iowa State stakeholders. During her tenure as dean, the College of Human Sciences more than doubled to 5,000 students – making it the largest college of its kind in the country. Student retention, graduation, and job placement rates also made key gains under her leadership, as did alumni engagement and fundraising.

2017 Outstanding Engagement Award

Dr. Marlene Stum – Professor in the University of Minnesota’s Department of family Social Science – is the winner of the BoHS Outstanding Engagement Award. The award recognizes a campus-based or a state-level faculty member with exceptional creativity and scholarship in the development, application, and evaluation of outreach, extension, and public service programs. Dr. Stum’s research and extension work focuses on the financial security and economic well-being of elderly individuals and families. She has designed and developed a website to educate consumers on inheritance planning. Her scholarship and outreach also focuses on financial planning long-term care and she has helped shape public and private policies impacting the long-term care risks facing the country’s aging population. Stum is an early innovator in the use of technology to increase access to the consumer information materials for various audiences.

2017 Undergraduate Research Mentor Award

Dr. Lauren M. Papp, the Vaughan Bascom Professor of Women, Family, and Community at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is the winner of the 2017 BoHS Undergraduate Research Mentor Award. The award recognizes a faculty member in the human sciences for exceptional performance as a research mentor to undergraduate students. Since 2007, Papp has directed the UW-Madison Couples Lab, engaging nearly 60 undergraduates research assistants, honors students, and interns as the center undertakes research on relationships. She also regularly mentors undergraduates as they prepare for research events, guiding them through research presentation practice and defending their research. Papp provides advice to students considering graduate school and their career options. She continues to be a resource to graduates even after they have left the university.

The BoHS is part of APLU’s Commission on Food, Environment, and Renewable Resources (CFERR), which focuses on cross-cutting issues related to agriculture, forestry, ocean and atmosphere, veterinary medicine, and human sciences. Members are committed to a national agenda that unifies disciplines within and beyond the human sciences to enrich people’s lives.