Source: Joe Aistrup, 785-532-6900, jaistrup@k-state.edu
Hometown connection: Maricopa, Ariz., and Edina, Minn.
Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011
USDA researcher, former Cargill exec receiving alumni awards from College of Arts and Sciences
MANHATTAN -- Two distinguished alumni of Kansas State University's College of Arts and Sciences will receive alumni awards from the college at a ceremony Thursday, Oct. 27.
Recipients are Jim Haymaker, a 1969 bachelor's graduate in economics, French and Spanish, who will receive the Alumni Merit Award, and Jeff Fabrick, a 1995 bachelor's graduate in biochemistry and a 2003 doctoral graduate in biochemistry, who will receive the Young Alumni Award. Joe Aistrup, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, will make the presentations.
Bill Blankenau, head of the university's department of economics, nominated Haymaker for the College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Merit Award. Blankenau recognized Haymaker's entrepreneurial role in developing and implementing a paradigm shift at Cargill Inc. known as Strategic Intent.
"Strategic Intent was a huge success," Blankenau said. "Jim demonstrated that the principles of entrepreneurship could thrive in a corporate environment and that a large company could be nimble in a changing environment. His contributions sharply increased Cargill's earnings and the company was also able to implement a variety of new services and innovations to benefit customers."
Haymaker, who also earned a master of business administration in finance/international business from the University of Chicago in 1971, held a number of leadership positions in his successful career with Cargill. He recently retired and lives in Edina, Minn., with his wife, Kathy.
Fabrick is a research entomologistat the Pest Management and Biological Control Research Unit in the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service's U.S. Arid-Land Agricultural Research Center in Maricopa, Ariz. He was nominated for the Young Alumni Award by Mike Kanost, university distinguished professor and head of the department of biochemistry.
"Jeff has made significant contributions to the area of insect immunity. His published journal articles are among the very few biochemical papers in that field that deal with a significant pest species," Kanost said. "Jeff has excelled as an independent scientist, continuing to work on basic studies of insect biochemistry with important implications for agriculture, particularly in insect pests of cotton."
In 2010, Fabrick was named the Agricultural Research Service's Pacific West Area Early Career Research Scientist of the Year.
Both of the College of Arts and Sciences' awards are being presented at the second annual Eisenhower Circle Celebration, a special event recognizing loyal alumni and friends who give $250 or more to the college annually. The Eisenhower Circle recognition society is named for Milton S. Eisenhower, the ninth president of the university and for whom Eisenhower Hall is named for. The hall is home to the dean's offices of the College of Arts and Sciences.
