A veteran agricultural economist and administrator at Mississippi State University was recently honored for his achievements and distinguished service to his profession.
Bill Herndon, who serves as the associate vice president of MSU’s Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine, received the 2013 Southern Agricultural Economics Associate Lifetime Achievement Award.
The award recognizes significant and enduring contributions in scholarship or public service to southern agricultural economics.
“Dr. Herndon’s devotion to the roles and importance of agricultural economics in fulfilling the obligations of land-grant universities in addressing the problems of clients and stakeholders has always been his highest priority,” said John Anderson, deputy chief economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation in Washington, D.C, who nominated Herndon for this award. “This is why he is a recognized leader who has earned respect from students, farmers and their organizations, government officials and colleagues in academia.”
While a professor in MSU’s Department of Agricultural Economics for nearly 25 years, Herndon served as the graduate coordinator, the advisor to undergraduate and graduate agricultural economics clubs, and the chair of several committees.
Herndon is highly regarded for his understanding of dairy pricing and policy. He has served as a leader in many local, regional, national and international groups that analyze and develop dairy policy.
He is also respected for his character.
“A lifetime of achievement should reflect a person’s core beliefs and indirect contributions through his or her personal service to community and integrity,” wrote one colleague in Herndon’s nomination packet. “The transcendent quality of Bill Herndon is his genuine concern for his co-workers, colleagues, students and fellow citizens.”
In 2008,Herndon became the head of the North Mississippi Research and Extension Center in Verona, after serving as interim director of MSU’s Office of International Programs and interim head of MSU’s Department of Agricultural Economics.
He has served as president of the Southern Agricultural Economics Association and MSU’s chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta, the honor society of agriculture. The chapter honored him with the Extension Award of Merit in 2008. The Mississippi Association of County Agricultural Agents presented him with the 2007 Outstanding Extension Specialist Award.