AMES, Iowa — Iowa State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences presented awards at the annual Alumni Association Honors and Awards Ceremony on November 8.
David Morrison received the Floyd Andre Award. The award recognizes alumnus who have made outstanding contributions to production agriculture, agricultural business, or who have significantly influenced Iowa agriculture.
Morrison received a bachelor's degree in food technology in 1969, and a master's degree in chemical engineering in 1971 from Iowa State. He is the retired executive officer of the meat supply company, SAMPCO Inc. During his career he also served in senior executive roles for Armour Dial and Bertin USA.
Morrison served five years on the ISU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean’s Advisory Board, and along with his wife, Judith, has funded a scholarship for Iowa State food science and human nutrition students and the Morrison Chair in Meat Science professorship.
He has received many awards in the food science industry including the Lifetime Achievement Award and Industry Innovation Award from the Shelf Stable Food Processors Association.
Jon Kinzenbaw received the college's George Washington Carver Distinguished Service Award. The award was established to honor Iowa State alumni and friends for outstanding achievements in the agricultural, food, environmental, social and life sciences.
Kinzenbaw, founder and president of Kinze Manufacturing Inc. has grown his business to one of the largest privately held agricultural equipment manufactures in North America.
His inventions, such as the single-axle low-profile grain cart and the folding planter have helped revolutionize modern planting and harvesting processes. He has been named inventor of 19 patents for Kinze Manufacturing, Inc., and the company has numerous additional patents. Kinzenbaw also farms with his family.
He has received the Governor’s New Product Award by the Iowa Engineering Society, Friends of Agriculture Award from the National Agri-Marketing Association and has been inducted in to the Inventor’s Hall of Fame by the Intellectual Property Law Association.
Jim Blome, president and CEO for Bayer CropScience LP, received the Henry A. Wallace Award. The award was established in 1978 to honor an Iowa State alum who has made an outstanding contribution to national or international agriculture in writing, teaching, research or leadership.
Blome graduated with bachelor's degrees in agronomy and pest management in 1985. Throughout his career, he served in executive positions in some of the nation’s largest agricultural companies. Under his leadership, Bayer CropScience North America launched several initiatives to support the future of agriculture, including the Young Farmer Sustainability Award and the newly constructed North American Bee Care Center.
Active in several segments of the agricultural industry, Blome serves as a board member for the National Wild Turkey Federation, Directors of CropLife America, National FFA Organization Sponsors Board and most recently, the ISU Master of Business Administration Executive Advisory Council.
Sarah Low received the Superior Achievement Award for Early or Mid-career Alumni from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The award honors distinguished alumni under 40 years old who have excelled in their professions and are providing outstanding service, leadership and involvement in their communities.
Low, an economist for the United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, graduated from Iowa State with a bachelor's degree in public service and administration in agriculture in 2002. She also earned a master’s degree in agricultural economics and a Ph.D. in agricultural and consumer economics.
Low’s extensive research in the rural economic development has made her a valued resource to policymakers, economic development practitioners and researchers. Her published work includes topics such as local food marketing, rural school finance and rural entrepreneurship.
She has received an honorable mention Helios Award for Research, and her contributions have been recognized as “best finding” in Amber Waves magazine. In addition, Low was acknowledged by the Iowa State Alumni Association as a STATEment Maker, an honor recognizing the early personal and professional accomplishments and contributions to society of Iowa State’s young alumni.
Matthew Leu received the Iowa State Alumni Association’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award. The award was established in 1968 to recognize ISU alumni age 40 and under, who have excelled in their professions and provided service to their communities.
Leu graduated in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in animal science and a master’s degree in business administration in 2007. After a successful internship with Cargill as an undergraduate, Leu joined the company as a full time employee after graduation, holding many positions including his current job as general manager of one of Cargill’s beef production facilities.
His leadership within the company has won him many awards including the Cargill President’s Club Award, the Cargill Kitchen Solutions Achiever’s Circle Award. He represented Cargill Kitchen Solutions with the Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award issued by the President of the United States.
Leu also serves in leadership positions on the Milwaukee Association of Commerce, Food and Beverage Advisory Council and the Menomonee Valley Business Improvement District Board.
Catherine Swoboda also received the Iowa State Alumni Association’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award.
Swoboda serves as the director of Iowa and Midwest education programs for the World Food Prize Foundation. She received her bachelor’s degree in agronomy in 2008, and master’s degree in crop production and physiology in 2010 from Iowa State.
Swoboda’s humanitarian interests have led her to create the Iowa Youth Institute, a joint initiative between the World Food Prize and Iowa State to encourage high school students to confront global challenges in agriculture and environmental sustainability. The program is emerging as an educational model for similar programs nationally. In her role, she also serves as the chief organizer for the World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue Symposium and the Iowa Hunger Summit.
She is expanding World Food Prize education programs nationally, and regularly serves as a voice to promote Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programing. Swoboda is an appointee to the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council.
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Note to Editors: Photos of the awardees are available by contacting Haley Cook, hcook@iastate.edu or 515-294-0705