June 1, 2021
Shout Out: Our Plant Diagnostic Team
This week’s Shout Out comes from Department of Plant Pathology Head, Dr. Megan Kennelly, and is directed to our plant diagnostic team. Megan wrote:
“As the 2021 growing season continues to accelerate, I am thinking back to where we were one year ago in the thick of the shut-down. I would like to give a "shout out" to our plant diagnostic team. Judy O'Mara, director of the KSU Plant Diagnostic Lab, and Chandler Day, assistant director for the Great Plains Diagnostic Network, provided creative thinking and problem-solving, and we were able to keep the K-State plant diagnostic lab open all year. This involved major changes in how we scheduled staff time, how packages were received (including setting up a temporary collection box at the Fed Ex store and physically retrieving our campus mail daily when it was not being brought to Throckmorton), and so much more. Judy and Chandler were key to keeping the whole operation flowing, and I can't even remember all the details they figured out.
I would also like to thank Kelsey Andersen Onofre, Rodrigo Borba Onofre, Erick DeWolf (no longer officially in extension role but helped greatly!), Doug Jardine (who came out of retirement to help with samples occasionally), Haley Scott and Tim Todd. Jim Stack served an important role as director of GPDN to keep regional processes flowing with help from the rest of his team. In the midst of the pandemic, plant diseases did not slow down even for a moment, and the plant disease extension group worked tirelessly to serve our stakeholders under very challenging conditions.”
Plant Diagnostic Team, thanks for all you do for the people we serve, our colleagues, and K-State Research and Extension!
If you know of a colleague or team of colleagues who deserve recognition for a job well done, why not nominate them for a Shout Out. Simply send their name(s) and the reason for the Shout Out to (please note change) ksreshoutout@ksu.edu.