CFANS community shines at the 2023 Borealis Night of Excellence

April 24, 2023
Student Life
Campus Affairs

The CFANS Alumni Society, Undergraduate Student Board, Graduate Student Board and Postdoc Board co-hosted the 2023 Borealis Night of Excellence, held in-person on Thursday, April 20, 2023. This annual event recognizes outstanding alumni, students, staff, faculty and friends for their service to the College and for their professional achievements.

View photos from the event

Borealis award recipients 2023
The Applied Plant Sciences Graduate Student Association received the Exemplary Graduate Student Organization Borealis Award.

This year, 16 Borealis Award recipients and organizations were honored along with Alumni Society scholarship recipients, Mentor Program honorees and Borealis Circle inductees. Emcees David Pascoe (President, Alumni Society Board), Kendal Burstad (Chair, Graduate Student Board), Elizabeth Abraham (Postdoc Board) and Karly Beaumont (President, Undergraduate Student Board) presented the awards.

New this year, the Cultivating Future Leaders Award, recognizing a former high school teacher of a current CFANS undergraduate student, was awarded to Megan Brown, FFA teacher at Fillmore Central High School. 

Edward Terry ('68 Agricultural Education) was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for a teaching career impacting three generations of students over 51 years of agricultural education.

2023 Borealis award recipients:

  • Student Leadership Award — Undergraduate Student — Ashley Hagenow, Senior, Agricultural Communications and Marketing
  • Student Leadership Award — Graduate Student— Hailey Shanovich (MS ’19 Entomology, PhD ’23 Natural Resources Science and Management)
  • Exemplary Undergraduate Student Organization — Lambda Delta Phi Sorority
  • Exemplary Graduate Student Organization — Applied Plant Sciences Graduate Student Association
  • Outstanding Club Advisor — Mary K. Schmidl, Food Science & Nutrition, Phi Tau Sigma Advisor
  • Exemplary Staff — Kristen Opitz, Plant Pathology and Agronomy & Plant Genetics
  • Exemplary Faculty — (less than 5 years)— Matthew Petersen, Entomology
  • Exemplary Faculty — (more than 5 years)— Kumar Mallikarjunan, Food Science & Nutrition
  • Little Red Oil Can (individual or group of individuals) —Libby (Elizabeth) Silverman, CFANS Academic Advising Center
  • Cultivating Future Leaders (New) — Megan Brown, Fillmore Central High School
  • Outstanding Friend — Elaine Christiansen
  • Community Builder — Eric Ness (BS ’85 Agricultural Engineering)
  • Rising Star — Joe Ramstad (BS ’19 Agricultural Education, Agricultural Communications and Marketing)
  • Alumni Service — Kari Schwab (BS ’10 Agricultural and Food Business Management)
  • Distinguished Alumni — Merlin Lindemann (BS ’77 Animal Science, PhD ’81 Animal Science)
  • Lifetime Achievement — Edward Terry (BS ’68 Agricultural Education)