December 6, 2023
Logan Britton and Tom Misilo recognized as Professor and Professional Staff of the Week
Logan Britton, assistant professor of agricultural economics, and Tom Misilo, systems administrator for K-State Libraries, were recognized as Professor and Professional Staff of the Week at the Dec. 5 men's home basketball game.
Faculty Senate, the Office of the President, K-State Athletics and the Division of Communications and Marketing wish to recognize their contributions to Kansas State University.
Britton teaches undergraduate courses in computer decision tools, contemporary issues in food and agricultural systems, agricultural finance and agribusiness logistics. He advises 20-26 undergraduate students each year, supervises undergraduate research assistants, mentors agricultural economics doctoral students serving as instructors and serves on graduate students committees. Additionally, he co-advises Blue Key Senior Honorary and the College of Agriculture Ambassadors at K-State.
Britton conducts research in the areas of consumer demand, agricultural supply chains and the scholarship of teaching and learning. He serves as the principal investigator for a U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture Agriculture and Food Initiative Program grant to examine the supply chain implications of non-zoonotic disease outbreaks and a USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Federal-State Marketing Improvement Program grant to explore promotion issues of Kansas specialty livestock animals and products.
Britton received his bachelor's and master's degrees from K-State. Britton returned to campus in 2020 after completing his doctorate at Oklahoma State University. He has served on several departmental, college, university and professional association committees. He has been honored as an Early Career Teacher for Excellence in College and University Teaching Award in the Food and Agricultural Sciences by USDA NIFA, Outstanding Advisor by the national Blue Key Honor Society, Outstanding Faculty by the XIX Chapter of the Mortar Board Honor Society, and Faculty of the Semester by the K-State Agriculture Student Council.
Misilo manages numerous digital platforms, including the Libraries' websites. He played an integral role in the Hale Library's website redesign. Misilo ensured that all aspects of the library's web presence transitioned, whether its users were on the university's CMS or the multiple library and academic systems and databases that let users search library collections and provide students and researchers with access to scholarly materials and content.
Misilo additionally worked with the Hale refill team to develop a process that helped label every side of more than 1,000 book shelving ranges and map them on the website using a software called StackMap. This has made materials more accessible to patrons and has also added a layer of privacy for users as well, cutting down the need to ask for help finding items.
Misilo also spent a lot of time implementing a software called LibCal, a calendaring system utilized for the reservation of collaboration rooms. Misilo has worked with Library IT services and the Sunderland Foundation Innovation Lab to set up additional instances of the inventory system used to track furniture but tailored the programming to suit their specific needs.