The Alumni Association of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) at Cornell University will honor eight alumni at the association's annual alumni awards banquet Friday, Oct. 13. The alumni association is celebrating the 24th anniversary of the Outstanding Alumni Awards. Of the college's 47,000 alumni, 105 have been honored with this award.

The event will be held on campus at the Statler Hotel Ballroom at 6 p.m.

Individuals can register for the banquet by contacting the CALS alumni office, 276 Roberts Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. 14853, by Oct. 6. For further information, call (607) 255-7651.

This year's honored alumni:

George G. Gellert, B.S. ('60) MBA ('62), J.D. ('63), Oradell, N.J., is president and chief executive of Atalanta Corp., the largest privately held food importer in the United States, with business interests in more than 50 countries. His dedication to Cornell has been consistent and long-standing. He has served CALS in several advisory roles and was a strong supporter for the David L. Call Alumni Auditorium. Gellert has served as a Cornell trustee and has been a member of the University Council. He endowed the Imre Thomas Gellert Scholarship and the Leon Rubin Family Scholarship.

Thomas E. Kent, B.S .('71), Andover, N.Y., owns Kent Farms Inc., which has 200 head of beef cattle for breeders and feeders, and deals in certified seed for oats and potatoes. Kent has served as director of New York State Seed Improvement since 1995 and as chairman of the state's Seed Certification Committee and on the Small Grains Certification Committee. He is a member of the board of directors for the FARMEDIC Alfred State College National Training Center, an organization involved in training attendees to respond to farm emergencies. He also is a member of New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Deer Management Task Force. Kent has been as a member of the CALS Alumni Association district leadership team since 1991. William J. Lipinski, B.S. ('79) Hampden, Mass., is president and chief executive of First Pioneer Farm Credit, ACA. He is a member of the Farm Credit System President's Planning Committee, an organization charged with addressing national and systemwide planning issues for the Farm Credit institutions. Lipinski serves on the board of directors for Farm Credit Leasing Services and the board of directors for LEAD New York. Recently he was recognized as one of the country's "innovative agricultural lenders" by AgriFinance magazine. Lipinski serves on Cornell's W.I. Myers Agricultural Finance and Management Program Advisory Council, as well as the CALS Advisory Council.

Nell I. Mondy, Ph.D. ('53), Ithaca, is a Cornell professor emerita in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Human Ecology, where she has served for over 40 years in teaching, research and extension. Her research has been in plant biochemistry, human nutrition and the effects of storage and processing of potatoes. In 1983 the Potato Association of America awarded her an honorary life membership. Mondy has published more than 200 articles and papers and is the author of Experimental Food Chemistry. She has taught more than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students in the areas of chemistry, nutrition, food science and toxicology. Mondy has been national president of Graduate Women in Science (1983-84) and was elected an honorary life member in 1986. A plaque honoring Mondy was installed in 1999 on the Wall of Fame, National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, N.Y.

David M. Rice, B.S. ('51), M. Ed. ('61), Wysox, Pa., has spent a career helping others through education. Joining his brother, Jim Rice (Class of 1940), following graduation, the two rehabilitated a farm in northeastern Pennsylvania and taught World War II veterans practical agriculture. He served as the agriculture teacher and later the director of adult education in Genoa, N.Y., and as the director of guidance at the Delaware Academy in Delhi, N.Y. In 1967 he became a guidance counselor at Mynderse Academy in Seneca Falls. After a year, he was name director of pupil personnel services and guidance at the academy. He initiated the Northern Tier Industry-Education Consortium's School-to-Work Program, which was ranked one of the best in Pennsylvania. Young Alumni Achievement Award:

Nathan L. Rudgers, B.S. ('82), Burnt Hills, N.Y., serves as commissioner of the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. In this capacity he has carried out the Farmland Protection program, awarding more than $30 million in grants to help forever preserve New York farmland. He also has carried out food safety policies, such as the New York State Egg Quality Assurance program and the New York Cattle Health Assurance program. Rudgers led the New York State Environmental Management Initiative, an innovative, incentive-based approach for planning and implementing environmental protection measures on farms. In addition, he serves on the CALS Advisory Council and was the agricultural industry and alumni representative to the search committee for the new CALS dean, Susan Henry.

Outstanding Faculty/Staff:

Dale E. Bauman, B.S. ('64), Ithaca, is a Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor and professor of nutritional biochemistry in the Department of Animal Science. He is widely recognized for his research on metabolic regulation of nutrient use for growth and lactation, and he has co-authored more than 400 scientific articles. In 1988, Bauman was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and has won the USDA Superior Service Award. In addition, he has received the Alexander von Humboldt Award for research considered of greatest significance to American agriculture, as well as the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology Award for his contributions to public understanding of food and agricultural science. In addition to his research, Bauman has maintained an active teaching and advising schedule.

Kenneth L. Robinson, M.S. ('49), Ithaca, is professor emeritus in the Department of Agricultural, Resource and Managerial Economics. For 36 years, Robinson has provided leadership as a teacher, writer and public servant. He has written two popular textbooks. In 1959, he earned the Teacher of Merit Award from CALS, and his teaching expertise led him to a number of visiting appointments abroad, including Japan and Australia. Robinson has served on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Feed Grains Advisory Committee, the National Science Foundation's panel on research priorities and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce agriculture committee. Robinson is perhaps best known for his contributions to the annual Cornell Agribusiness Economic Outlook Conference and for his contributions to understanding the economic implications of alternative farm policies.