URBANA, Ill. - Each year, the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign recognizes the contributions of faculty, staff, and graduate students through the College of ACES and Paul A. Funk Recognition Awards. These awards honor individuals who have demonstrated outstanding achievements or exceptional service to the college. Recipients will be honored at a banquet Monday night at Pear Tree Estate in rural Champaign.

The awards program was established in 1970 by the Paul A. Funk Foundation of Bloomington, as a memorial to the late Paul A. Funk, who attended the college as a member of the class of 1929 and devoted his life to agriculture.

The 2021 recipients include:

PAUL A. FUNK RECOGNITION AWARD
     Jeffrey Brawn, Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences
     Vijay Singh, Agricultural and Biological Engineering

SPITZE LAND-GRANT PROFESSORIAL CAREER EXCELLENCE AWARD
     Philip Garcia, Agricultural and Consumer Economics

RUNGE FACULTY DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
     Michael Ward, Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences

FACULTY AWARD FOR GLOBAL IMPACT
     Richard Cooke, Agricultural and Biological Engineering

TEAM AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE
     Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Soybean Value Chain Research (Soybean Innovation Lab)
     Full list of 2021 Team Award for Excellence recipients can be found here.

FACULTY AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING
     Senior
     Kevin Kline, Animal Sciences
     College
     Maria Cattai de Godoy, Animal Sciences

FACULTY AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH
     Senior
     Hao Feng, Food Science and Human Nutrition
     College
     Girish Chowdhary, Agricultural and Biological Engineering

FACULTY AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN EXTENSION
     Senior
     Nick Paulson, Agricultural and Consumer Economics

KARL E. GARDNER OUTSTANDING UNDERGRADUATE ADVISER AWARD
     Paul Davidson, Agricultural and Biological Engineering

JOHN CLYDE AND HENRIETTA DOWNEY SPITLER TEACHING AWARD
     Aaron Ebata, Human Development and Family Studies

SPECIALIZED FACULTY TEACHING AWARD
     Toni Burkhalter, Food Science and Human Nutrition

PROFESSIONAL STAFF AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE
     Sustained Excellence—Advising, Teaching and Outreach
     Anne Hall, Human Development and Family Studies
     Sustained Excellence—Research
     Jonathon Mosley, Animal Sciences
     Sustained Excellence—Administrative/Management or Technical Contributions
     Kimberly Meenen, ACES Advancement

MARCELLA M. NANCE STAFF AWARD
     April Wellman, Animal Sciences

STAFF AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE
     Linda Kemplin, Crop Sciences
     Janice Trudell, Food Science and Human Nutrition

SERVICE RECOGNITION AWARD
     David Walker, Crop Sciences

GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH AWARD
     Ph.D.
     Vanessa Lagos, Division of Nutritional Sciences
     M.S.
     Jacob Montgomery, Crop Sciences

LOUIS V. LOGEMAN GRADUATE STUDENT TEACHING AWARD
     Jasmine Routon, Human Development and Family Studies
     Marta Albiol-Tapia, Food Science and Human Nutrition