During the University of Vermont College of Agriculture and Life Sciences commencement on May 22 in the UVM athletic complex, four professors from the College ceremoniously commenced to retire.

With a reading of official proclamations of their career highlights by Tom Vogelmann, Dean of the College, the foursome transitioned to emeriti status. Vogelmann’s readings follow:

Lorraine Berkett, you have served the department of plant and soil ccience and Extension since joining the University of Vermont in 1983. Your scholarship has focused on sustainable agriculture, integrated pest management, plant pathology, apple production and cold climate grape production. 

Your commitment to scientific study and outreach has been informed by an uncompromising demand for accuracy and precision. As Vermont agriculture have changed over the decades, you have successfully adapted your focus to include considerations for the growing organic movement, and when a fledgling grape and wine industry began to establish itself, you embraced it, and your newfound enthusiasm in that field has greatly benefited those producers and the specialty crop sector of Vermont overall. Your valued guidance to fruit growers has resisted conjecture and always been carefully offered, based upon the principles of sound science and good environmental stewardship.

In your dealings with colleagues, including as chair of the department of plant and soil science from 1993 to 1998, your decisions were characterized by an uncommon sense of fairness to people and respect for their efforts. You have always maintained a commitment to the land-grant mission of teaching, research and outreach, and your leadership on maintaining those core principles has offered support and guidance to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Vermont agricultural sector.

Thank you, Lorraine, for your science, your service and your unwavering commitment to the land-grant ideals that have inspired those who have had the privilege of working with you. As you now embark on new directions, we are encouraged that we will continue to benefit from your wisdom and advice, and we wish that the sun will always shine on you in your future pursuits.

Lyndon B. Carew, Jr., after graduating from Cornell University, you joined the faculty of the University of Vermont department of animal science in 1969 and the department of nutrition and food sciences in 1973.

Over the course of your distinguished career at UVM, you have inspired literally thousands of students in the area of nutrition in your popular fundamentals of nutrition course. Even after 40 years in the classroom, your lectures have been a beacon of inspiration to your students and peers, the latter of which have been asking themselves how they could possibly ever emulate you. You adapted to new technological opportunities early on, and you were the first to develop a computerized undergraduate nutrition education program. What started out on multiple giant floppy disks in 1983, evolved into an internationally sought after stand-alone course that fits on a CD.

You have been recognized at the college, university and national level with the most prestigious teaching awards – the Carrigan Award (twice), the Kroepsch-Maurice Excellence in Teaching Award, the Kidder Outstanding Faculty Award, the Bickford Scholar Award, and a North American College and Teacher of Agriculture (NACTA) Teaching Fellow, to name a few.

Your research in poultry nutrition focused on the effects of protein and fat on chick growth and endocrinology. Internationally, you researched velvet beans for poultry feed in tropical areas with colleagues in Zamorano, Honduras. The impact and significance of your work is demonstrated through continued citations today of your earliest publications. Whether presenting research in Kenya or sharing your knowledge, common sense and humor in your 2010 book “Musings of a Vermont Nutritionist,” you are relevant and respected.

Dr. Carew, your service to your department, college, university, and professional associations has been exemplary. You have taught generations of students and mentored researchers, teachers, and educators alike. Your love of knowledge and life has made you an outstanding pillar of knowledge and wisdom and an unparalleled asset to the University of Vermont and to the citizens of our state. Thank you for your outstanding service to our students, the college and the university.

William Currier, you have been fascinated with chemistry and biochemistry for 42 years, not counting the work you began with your chemistry set at age 12. (It’s in your file). Following your education at the University of Washington and Purdue University, you completed your postdoctoral training at Montana State University under the mentorship of the internationally respected plant pathologist Dr. Gary Strobel. This training not only culminated in a seminal paper in “Science” on how nitrogen-fixing bacteria move towards a plant chemo-attractant but also a faculty position in the department of microbiology and biochemistry at the University of Vermont in 1977.

At UVM, your research interests have centered on the interactions between plants and microbes such as fungi and bacteria and on amino acid transport in plant cells. You have collaborated with colleagues on research on amino acids, funded by the National Science Foundation, and on biochemical approaches to trapping insect pests. You have also worked to improve pesticides for commercial apples. Your research has been presented in 40 publications to benefit scientists and agricultural producers.

You are a superb teacher who communicates the passion and nuances of biochemistry and life science in an extraordinary manner. You are well known for your complete dedication to the teaching of general biochemistry and the fact that you were willing to spend countless hours in your office helping students, one-on-one, to grasp biochemical principles that they were seeking to learn. You also mentored graduate and undergraduate researchers in your lab, providing them a rich educational experience for their UVM program of study. 

An active member of the UVM community, you served as chair of the department of agricultural biochemistry, director of the Biological Sciences Program, representative to the faculty senate and member of the college curriculum and honors committees. For your many contributions to your science and the teaching of science, you were elected vice president and later president of the Vermont chapter of Sigma Xi, the pre-eminent honor society of research scientists. Thank you for your outstanding service to our students, the college and the university.

Dianne Lamb’s citation was read by UVM Extension Dean Douglas Lantagne. 

Dianne Lamb, for the past 38 years you have served the people of Vermont with skill, enthusiasm and know-how through your work with UVM Extension. As a transplant from Maine, you arrived in Vermont shortly after receiving your B.S. in education from the University of Maine and then received your Masters in Extension Education here at the University of Vermont. Moving through the ranks, you began as an Extension home economist, then became an Extension assistant professor in 1977 and an Extension associate professor in 1981.

With your expertise in food and nutrition behavior change, we are struck by how many Vermonters you helped learn to improve their selection of healthful foods, preserve foods safely, stay well fed on a tight budget, reduce chronic disease through diet, and more. Your own passion about cooking, gardening and collecting books – especially cookbooks –  was contagious. You brought your excitement to those you taught, inspiring them to invest in their lives as you have in yours.

Given your excellent writing skills, your news column is known statewide, having run for more than 30 years and reaching more than 50 media outlets. Numerous articles focused on your key scholarly interests of home food preservation and diabetes education related to food and nutrition issues. You received many accolades from the National Association of Family & Consumer Sciences for your work, including the Distinguished Service Award in 1984.

Not only did you reach out to the people of Vermont, but you also captured the internal work of UVM Extension, our people and our lives, by becoming an unofficial historian of our organization through your extensive photographs.

You will be missed in so many ways. For all you have contributed to Extension, and to us collectively and individually, thank you.