Regional Honorees Also Nominated for National Recognition by the APLU
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture brought home three top awards from the Southern Mini Land-Grant Conference sponsored by the national Association for Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU).
The awards were presented by agInnovation South on June 10 at the meeting held in Fayetteville, Arkansas. agInnovation South is the coalition of directors of state agricultural experiment stations in Southern states. The group is a regional coalition of the national APLU.
Honored with 2025 awards from agInnovation South were:
- Hongwei Xin, dean of UT AgResearch, who received the Excellence in Leadership Award.
- Tim Rials, associate dean of UT AgResearch, who received the Susan E. Duncan Meritorious Service Award.
- Yang Zhao, associate professor of animal science, who received the Agricultural Research Innovation Award of Excellence.
UT AgResearch is the name of the agricultural experiment station in Tennessee, which is a part of the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture. The federal Hatch Act of 1887 established funding for research to be conducted at the stations, which are overseen by land-grant universities in the 50 states, District of Columbia and U.S. territories. Certain states have more than one land-grant institution as a result of additional legislation in 1890, and some western and plains states have several land-grant institutions because of the 1994 federal land-grant legislation for tribal colleges.
As regional winners, each honoree will now be considered for corresponding national awards from the APLU.
The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture is comprised of the Herbert College of Agriculture, UT College of Veterinary Medicine, UT AgResearch and UT Extension. Through its land-grant mission of teaching, research and outreach, the Institute touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. to Tennesseans and beyond. utia.tennessee.edu.