by Lana Koepke Johnson | Agronomy and Horticulture
Paul E. Read, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Department of Agronomy and Horticulture professor of horticulture and viticulture, will be honored with the 2024 American Society of Enology and Viticulture – Eastern Section Distinguished Service Award during the 48th Annual ASEV–ES Conference July 9–11 in Cleveland, Ohio.
A native of New York, Read grew up on a small farm in the Finger Lakes Region. He obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Cornell University while working for 3 1/2 years as a county extension agent in Fulton County, New York. He obtained a doctoral degree in biological sciences at the University of Delaware.
Read joined the University of Minnesota where he served as a faculty member in the Department of Horticultural Science for 19 years. From 1987 to 1997, he was the head of Nebraska’s Horticulture Department. Read currently serves as a professor and as the key resource for Nebraska’s developing grape and wine industry.
Read has worked two vintages of grapes in Australia, collaborating with Rob Walker and Peter Clingelheffer at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation – an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research. He has also worked with Richard Smart and Steve Wilson at the University of Tasmania.
His research and educational programs in Nebraska have focused on cultivar and genotype evaluation, vineyard floor management, trellising, disease management, high tunnel grape production, and more recently, on the impact of crop load on grape and wine quality.
Throughout his career, Read has taught numerous courses at Nebraska and continues to teach the popular course HORT 871 Vines, Wines and You.
He received Nebraska’s Darrell W. Nelson Excellence in Graduate Education Award, having mentored over 80 master’s and doctoral students.
Read has been active in numerous professional groups and scientific societies. He received the Nebraska Winery and Grape Growers Association Pioneer Award and is a Lifetime Member. He has served as the president elect, president and chairman of the board of the American Society for Horticultural Science and has been recognized as an ASHS Fellow. Additionally, he received the ASHS Outstanding Graduate Educator Award and has chaired and served on numerous ASHS committees and groups.
Read is a founding member of the American Chestnut Foundation, serving as vice-president and president. He was a charter member and president of the former Plant Growth Regulator Society of America. He also served as interim director of the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum.
He has been an active member of the American Society of Enology and Viticulture and the ASEV-Eastern Section. Read recently served as chair-elect, chair and past-chair on the ASEV–ES Board and assisted with other ASEV–ES committees and services.
He has also been involved in the American Wine Society, the Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology, the Omaha Botanical Garden Board of Directors, the International Plant Propagators Society, the American Horticultural Society, the Royal Horticulture Society, the International Association of Plant Tissue and Organ Culture, and many other civic and professional organizations.
