The late Joseph W. Keaschall, the late William (Bill) Robert Raun and the late James J. Vorst, University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni, received the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture 2024 Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award.
This award is the highest honor bestowed upon graduates of the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture who have made significant contributions to their community, state and nation through professional service, public service and/or civic engagement. The award was founded in 2016 to recognize alumni who have enhanced the reputation of the department and the university by distinguishing themselves in their careers. Honorees are selected by the Agronomy and Horticulture Alumni Advisory Council (AHAAC).
Joseph W. Keaschall
April 20, 1956 - May 15, 2018
Joseph W. Keaschall was an extremely successful corn breeder for 32 years at DuPont Pioneer, now Corteva Agriscience, and was responsible for developing one of the parents of the highest-volume hybrid ever sold in the United States. He played a key role in developing systems for the conversion of conventional lines to contain and express biotech traits, such as insect resistance. He provided insight to process and systems, and the requirements to ensure biotech products could succeed. He was passionate about teaching, motivating and leading students, farmers and employees.
Keaschall was born in 1956 to Marvin and Delores (Rochford) Keaschall and grew up on a crop and livestock farm near Ravenna, Nebraska, with three siblings.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in agronomy with high distinction from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 1978. The late Dave McGill, agronomy professor, served as his adviser, and according to Keaschall, was the first mentor to inspire him with the amazing world of genetics. He also had the opportunity to work in corn breeding for a year under the late Charlie Gardner, another distinguished agronomy professor — an experience which Keaschall said helped solidify his desire to continue in plant breeding.
Keaschall met his future wife, Debra, while they were both undergraduates at Nebraska. Debra earned a bachelor’s degree in interior design. They married in 1979 and have three sons – Christopher, Ryan (married to Amanda) and Travis.
In 1980, Keaschall earned a master’s degree in plant breeding and genetics at Nebraska, working with Emeritus Professor Jim Specht in soybean breeding. In 1983, he earned a doctorate in plant breeding and genetics at Purdue University, specializing in sorghum breeding. He also completed curriculum focused on the seed industry through the Pioneer Institute III, Krannert School of Management at Purdue.
After graduating from Purdue University, he was a corn breeder for Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. at Windfall, Indiana, where he worked for 11 years. He later served as a research director at DuPont Pioneer for 19 years. Keaschall then had the opportunity to relocate to Lincoln as a research lead for DuPont Pioneer in the Western Business Unit regional office. He was the corn product program director for Latin America and the Southern/Western United States. He also served on the leadership team for the Ag Traits group, which focused on the identification and integration of engineered genes for drought resistance, nitrogen-use efficiency and yield enhancement.
Keaschall’s research focused on improving drought tolerance and enhancing and stabilizing crop yields in Nebraska and globally. He helped develop Aquamax, a drought-tolerant product, and gained expertise in precision phenotyping.
In 2016, Keaschall joined the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture faculty as a plant breeding professor of practice with the goal of inspiring and educating future plant breeding scientists and research associates. He taught graduate courses in plant breeding, including Heterosis, Cross-Pollinated Crop Breeding, and Haploids and Doubled Haploids in Breeding.
Keaschall was a member of Phi Beta Sigma and Gamma Sigma Delta. He received the Pioneer Million Unit Club award in 1991, the DuPont Pioneer Achievement in Research Award in 2012 and the prestigious DuPont research Bolton Carothers Award in 2014.
William (Bill) Robert Raun
June 21, 1957 – July 25, 2021
William (Bill) Robert Raun was a world-renowned contributor to the understanding of nitrogen efficiency, soil spatial variability, precision seed orientation efforts and the development of the GreenSeeder, a precision hand planter designed for marginal landscapes in Africa, Central and South America. He was a key member of the team that developed the GreenSeeker nitrogen sensor, a handheld sensor used in agriculture to monitor crop health, assess nitrogen needs and optimize fertilizer application rates across fields worldwide.
Raun was born in 1957 in Minden, Nebraska, to Ned Smith Raun and Esther Burris Zangger Raun, the youngest of six siblings. His father worked in international agriculture and moved the family to Mexico and later to Colombia. Raun spent his school years in Colombia, where he discovered his love for golf, became fluent in Spanish, and developed an interest in international agriculture. He spent his summers working on the family farm in Nebraska with his bothers and cousins. He moved back to the United States to attend his senior year at Stillwater High School in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he became the state golf champion and first met his future wife, Tanya Colclasure.
Raun earned a bachelor's degree in agronomy and turf management in 1979, and a master’s degree in agronomy and soil fertility in 1982, both from Oklahoma State University. In 1985, he completed his doctoral degree in agronomy and soil science at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
From 1985 to 1991, Raun worked as a regional maize agronomist for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Guatemala and Mexico. In this role he serviced nine countries in Central America and the Caribbean. CIMMYT is a non-profit organization that conducts research and training to improve maize and wheat farming with the goal to reduce food insecurity and malnutrition while helping developing countries adapt to climate change.
Raun reconnected with Colclasure when he returned to the U.S. and they married five months later. They have four children – Anne, Kate, Chris and Dana. Raun’s love for his work was eclipsed only by his love for his family.
In 1991, Raun joined the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at Oklahoma State University as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 1996, professor in 1999 and in 2004, he was named the Regents Professor of Plant and Soil Sciences. In 2006, he was named a Melvin and Mary Jones Distinguished Professorship of Agronomic Sciences and in 2010 was named the Walter R. Sitlington Chair in Agriculture.
Raun’s research focused on nitrogen use efficiency in cereal crops. His goal was to help reduce world hunger by improving agronomic practices among farmers globally. Early on in his career he collaborated with mechanical and electrical engineers to develop technology-based solutions for managing nitrogen, which led to the development and eventual commercialization of the GreenSeeker nitrogen sensor.
Raun was passionate about nurturing and developing future scientists. He served as a major advisor for 103 graduate degrees conferred to 84 students, 47 of whom came from the developing countries. He was dedicated to ensuring that his international students learned everything they could so that they could return to their home communities and teach others.
His work and teaching impacted farmers and scientists on every continent, except Antarctica.
Raun received many prestigious honors including the Agronomy Society of America Werner L. Nelson Award, ASA International Award, the Soil Science Society of America Soil Science Applied Research Award, the PrecisionAg Award of Excellence – Legacy Award, the Pierre C. Robert Precision Agriculture Senior Scientist Award, the Robert E. Wagner Award, the OSU Regents Distinguished Research Award, the OSU Sarkeys Distinguished Professor Award and the OSU James A. Whatley Award for Meritorious Service in Agricultural Sciences. He was named a Fellow of both ASA and SSSA.
Raun was the co-founder and senior editor of the Agrosystems, Geosciences, and Environment journal and editor of the Agronomy Journal. He authored over 254 refereed journals and holds 13 U.S. patents.
James J. Vorst
March 20, 1942 – October 27, 2021
James J. Vorst was a founding father of the International Certified Crop Adviser program, established by the American Society of Agronomy in 1992. Renowned for his expertise in learner-directed, competency-based education, Vorst led the development of the learning objectives, protocols and exams for certifying agronomy professionals to demonstrate their agronomic knowledge. His CCA work continued after his retirement in 2009. Today, the CCA program is the largest and most recognized agriculturally oriented certification program in North America and has expanded internationally, reaching countries such as India.
Vorst also led the development of guides used nationally for Technical Service Provider training for the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Services.
Vorst was a professor of agronomy at Purdue until his retirement in 2009.
Born on the family farm in Cloverdale, Ohio, in 1942, to Arnold and Carmela Vorst, he graduated from Kalida High School in 1960. He received his bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering from Ohio State University in 1964 and completed his master’s degree in agronomy and turf management at Ohio State in 1966.
In the same year, he married JoAnn Litterini in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. They had three sons – Jeffrey, Brian and Keith.
Vorst accepted a teaching instructorship at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln where he earned his doctoral degree in crop physiology and production in 1969. Afterward, he took a teaching position in agronomy at Purdue University. At Purdue, he developed the Independent Crops Learning Center, which contains multiple learning materials used by students from several courses. He taught courses in grain crops, crop ecology and agricultural ethics.
Vorst was especially interested in agricultural ethics and developed a course named Ethical Issues in Agriculture. In 1994, he was invited to Oregon State University as their first visiting professor in the Department of Philosophy to share his expertise. He also taught a summer course, Agriculture/Natural Resources Issues and Ethics, at Oxford University in England.
In addition, Vorst conducted workshops on issues analysis at Purdue, in the community, at high schools and at other universities.
He was part of a team that developed a series of International Educational Travel Programs with three other Purdue colleagues. The program’s goal was to integrate knowledge of global agriculture, natural resources, art and culture. Between 1991 and 1996, these courses provided Purdue students the opportunity to travel to Germany and Austria, England and Scotland, Spain, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands.
Vorst taught over 10,000 students, advised hundreds, served as an adviser for the Agronomy Club and co-advised the undergraduate Purdue Ag council. He also directed graduate student research in crop production.
Internationally, Vorst interacted with students, university faculty and agriculturalists from Europe, South and Central America, and the Middle East. His international work began in 1976 when he was invited to conduct turfgrass research at Friedrich Wilhelms Universitat, Bonn, Germany. He also collaborated in developing the International Center for Sustainable Development in Panama and served on its initial Board of Directors. Vorst evaluated educational programs and conducted teaching workshops at the Jordan University of Science and Technology and worked with scientists at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Cali, Colombia. He also directed the writing of environmental decision cases in the Middle East and led the development of a competency-based master's program in water resources in Palestine and Israel.
Vorst received numerous national and university awards including the Crop Science Society of America's Crop Science Teaching Award, the USDA Food and Agricultural Sciences Excellence in Teaching Regional Award, Purdue's Charles B. Murphy Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, Purdue Book of Great Teachers, Purdue’s College of Agriculture's Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award and the Outstanding Undergraduate Counseling Award. In 2011 he received the Purdue Agriculture Alumni Certificate of Distinction.
Within the ASA and CSSA, Vorst served or chaired numerous committees and was honored as a Fellow by both organizations.
He was an active member of the National Association of Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture and named a Teacher Fellow.
Vorst loved production agriculture and was never more at home than when he was in a tractor or a combine. Upon retiring, he actively farmed for six years and thoroughly enjoyed renovating vintage tractors, especially like one he drove loading grain when he was six years old.