Arkansas Ag Experiment Station Scientist Wins Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award

MENTOR AWARD — Mike Richardson, a department of horticulture faculty member since 1998, was recently presented the University of Arkansas Graduate School and International Education’s Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award. (U of A System Division of Ag photo by Fred Miller)

MEDIA CONTACT

John Lovett

U of A System Division of Agriculture
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station
(479) 763-5929  |  jlovett@uada.edu

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Mike Richardson, an Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station horticulture professor, was recently presented the Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award by the University of Arkansas Graduate School and International Education.

Richardson was recognized with the award for his long-standing service to graduate students on campus. The experiment station is the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

The Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award celebrates demonstrated success at graduate student mentorship at the University of Arkansas that includes positive role modeling as a professional, establishment and maintenance of high academic standards, a reputation for facilitating student learning and success as a mentor over a significant portion of the candidate’s career.

Richardson has served as a faculty member with the experiment station since 1998. Over his more than two decades of work, he has directly supervised 15 master’s students and four Ph.D. students, in addition to serving on 29 master’s and eight Ph.D. committees from a range of disciplines. Those efforts have resulted in 54 journal articles and 50 trade journal articles on their research, in addition to hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant support.

By receiving this award, Richardson will be nominated for the regional award through the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools.

Curt Rom, interim dean of the Graduate School and International Education, praised Richardson’s work in the classroom, laboratory and field with his students.

“His students learn good science — how to hypothesize, plan, start, execute and finish their research projects leading to successful publications and useful technologies,” Rom wrote in his nomination letter. “He has taught them to be good teachers and educators. He has shown them how to engage the industries and public and share their science and knowledge.”

Richardson was also lauded for his work to help graduate students become independent thinkers and better communicators.

“Dr. Richardson’s success as a graduate mentor becomes obvious in the awards and recognitions his students have received, the publications by and with his students, their professional engagement and their current career status,” Rom continued. “The students with whom he has worked have become recognized professionals. Their career success was forged by the mentorship from Dr. Richardson. This is a case of ‘Success builds success.'”

In addition to mentoring students, Richardson also helped launch a faculty mentoring program in the department of horticulture to guide junior faculty through the promotion and tenure process. Since 2014, the mentoring committee has helped five faculty members receive promotions from assistant to associate professor, and five additional assistant professors are currently in the program.

Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award

The U of A Graduate School and International Education also presented its Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award to Kaleb Turner, assistant director of communications in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. Turner is a graduate student in the department of communications who also teaches classes in the department. The award was presented for his thesis investigating the role of daily communications in campus communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Turner has served as the assistant director of communications in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences since spring 2022.

Turner’s thesis explored the impact social capital and daily communication played in campus community resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that “microcommunities” — such as a university campus — can harness communications to build resilience. By winning the award, Turner’s thesis is nominated to compete as the U of A’s nominee for the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools Master’s Thesis Awards.

​To learn more about the Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow us on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch and Instagram at @ArkAgResearch.

To learn about Extension Programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit https://uaex.uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AR_Extension.

To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.

 

About the Division of Agriculture

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.

The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.