Huck Boyd Institute presents Lifetime Achievement Award to former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole
Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016
Former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, center, is joined by Barry Flinchbaugh, left, professor emeritus of agricultural economics at Kansas State University, and former U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker at the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development's Rural Leaders Tribute on Sept. 16 in Manhattan. | Download this photo.
MANHATTAN — Kansas State University's Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole for service to rural Kansas on Sept. 16.
"Bob Dole, from Russell, was a great champion of rural Kansas throughout his 36 years in Congress," said Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development. "He has been a war hero, congressman, senate majority leader, World Food Prize winner and nominee for president of the United States, but he never forgot where he came from."
Dole received the award at the institute's Rural Leaders Tribute after he visited Dole Hall — named in his honor — on Kansas State University's Manhattan campus. The tribute event was hosted by the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at the Kansas Department of Agriculture in Manhattan. Nancy Kassebaum Baker, the former U.S. senator, and Barry Flinchbaugh, professor emeritus of agricultural economics at Kansas State University, joined Dole in a panel discussion prior to the award presentation.
"Whether it was Kansas wheat farmers, small-town hospitals, the disabled, veterans or families in need of food, Sen. Dole could be counted on to care about the concerns of rural Kansas," Wilson said. "Huck Boyd, a western Kansas newspaperman and civic leader, was a lifelong mentor for Sen. Dole, so it is especially fitting that the Huck Boyd Institute presents this award."
More than 120 rural Kansas leaders participated in the tribute event. Jackie McClaskey, secretary of the Kansas Department of Agriculture; April Mason, provost and senior vice president of Kansas State University; and Mike James, chair of the Huck Boyd Foundation's board of directors, Phillipsburg,provided opening remarks.
The Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development is a public-private partnership between K-State Research and Extension and the Huck Boyd Foundation. The foundation office is at the Huck Boyd Community Center in Phillipsburg. The institute office is on Kansas State University's Manhattan campus.
