Higher Learning

UNH Cooperative Extension floriculture specialist Paul Fisher, agricultural program coordinator Dorothy Perkins, and county educators Goeffrey Njue and Tom Buob received national recognition awards last month.

Lighting Up Profits, a book Fisher co-wrote and edited with Erik Runkle, Extension specialist from Michigan State, received a 2005 Blue Ribbon Award for an Education Aid http://www.asabe.org/awards/educomp/index.html from the American Society of Agricultural Engineers. The book, targeted at commercial growers, technical representatives, and university students, covers topics such as the basic biology of how light affects growth, the latest lighting research, and technical and financial information to help guide investment decisions in lighting equipment.

Perkins was honored as one of three national finalists in the 4-H and Youth Recognition category at the National Association of County Agricultural Agents (NACAA) annual conference in Buffalo July 17-22 for her work on the children’s gardening curriculum Growing a Green Generation http://horticulture.unh.edu/ggg.html. Perkins took the original curriculum developed by horticulture students, revised it, added to it, and tested it on both teachers and children at the UNH Child Study and Development Center (CSDC). The final curriculum represents collaboration among the UNH plant biology department, the CSDC, and UNH Cooperative Extension.

Njue, the Strafford County agricultural resources educator won communication awards for a fact sheet on using the Renaissance Red Poinsettia cut flower, and for a feature article on a Poinsettia variety trial, published in The Plantsman. Buob, Grafton County agricultural resources educator, received a NACAA Distinguished Service Award for 26 years of exemplary Extension programming. (08-03-05)