The Ag Alumni Association presented its highest honor, the Certificate of Distinction, to 10 agricultural leaders during the association’s annual meeting in Indianapolis on Feb. 7.

The meeting is held in conjunction with the Ag Alumni Fish Fry at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

The award, instituted in 1938, is presented to those who have distinguished themselves with significant contributions that have enhanced the agricultural profession.

“These 10 people represent many areas of agricultural pursuits, and their contributions to those areas are immeasurable,” says Donya Lester, the association’s executive secretary. “They are superstars of agriculture, and it is our pleasure to recognize their hard work and unselfish dedication with our highest award.”

The honorees are:

Robert Brinson, BS ’58, MS ’65, Michigantown, Ind. He retired in 1998 after 12 years as the superintendent of the Clinton Central School Corp. Previously, he was a principal, assistant principal and vocational agriculture teacher in the corporation dating back to 1961.

Thomas B. Daugherty, BS ’72, MS ’77, Amboy, Ind. He has been an agricultural science and business teacher at Maconaquah School Corp. since 1972. In 1999, Daugherty was Indiana’s recipient of the Christa McAuliffe Fellowship.

Bill Field, West Lafayette, Ind. He has been a professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Purdue since 1977. In 1979, Field established the Breaking New Ground Resource Center at Purdue to serve the needs of farmers and ranchers with disabilities.

Ralph R. Heine, BS ’50, Tampa, Fla. He retired in 1993 after operating Gobblers Retreat, a turkey farm that processed 10,000 turkeys a day. He was a state representative from Whitley County in the Indiana General Assembly from 1967 to 1975.

Ned Kalb, BS ’63, MS ’66, Indianapolis. He retired from Purdue Extension in 1997 and began a second career as an international consultant in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Poland.

Bob Lyons, BA ’60, Portland, Ind. He recently completed a teaching career that spanned 46 years, teaching biology and agriculture to more than 5,000 high school students in Jay County. Lyons now farms 1,400 acres.

Max G. Miller, BS ’59, MS ’63, Terre Haute, Ind. He retired in 1996 following a 36-year career as a Purdue Extension educator in Huntington, LaPorte, Hamilton and Vigo counties.

James Smoker, Wanatah, Ind. He is a semi-retired cattle producer and co-owner of Mitchell and Schoppel, the International Harvester dealership in LaCrosse, Ind. Smoker was the Indiana Beef Cattle Association’s Outstanding Cattleman in 1989 and earned the association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000.

Terry Strueh, BS ’69, West Lafayette, Ind. He recently retired after a 39-year Purdue career, serving most recently as vice president of governmental relations (1999-2008). He was a delegate to the Second World Food Conference of the United Nations.

Robert L. Thompson, MS ’69, PhD ’74, Champaign, Ill. He holds the Gardner Endowed Chair in Agricultural Policy at the University of Illinois. Thompson, the USDA’s assistant secretary for economics in 1985-87, was Purdue’s dean of agriculture from 1987 to 1993.