CANR recognizes recipients of Worrilow, Distinguished Alumni awards
Seven graduates of the University of Delaware College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) were presented with honors – the George M. Worrilow Award as well as three Distinguished Alumni Awards and three Distinguished Young Alumni Awards – during a ceremony held Friday, Oct. 20, as part of Homecoming festivities.
The awards are given based on a clear record of outstanding career accomplishments, service and leadership to the profession, and community service, including service to UD.
George M. Worrilow Award
James L. Glancey was presented with CANR’s George M. Worrilow Award, named for the dean of the college from 1954 to 1965, whose career was dedicated to better agriculture and better agricultural education.
It is given annually by the Ag Alumni Association to a graduate of the college who has exhibited outstanding service to agriculture.
Glancey is a professor with appointments in the College of Engineering and the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Glancey’s work includes the development of new or improved products and automated processes, the forensics of product failures, as well as a better understanding of the underlying physics of many natural and manmade phenomena.
His research utilizes a combination of analysis and simulations, prototyping, and testing. Cooperation with several centers on campus is typical including the Center for Biomechanical Engineering Research and the Center for Composite Materials. Glancey and his students have co-authored more than 120 manuscripts and papers since 1997 and several students have received national awards from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Society for the Advancement of Material and Processing Engineering (SAMPE).
Distinguished Alumni
Robert Cohen has had a distinguishable career both as a practitioner and business entrepreneur in veterinary sciences. Cohen attended the University of Delaware and graduated with a Degree with Distinction in 1972. He went on to attend the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and has been a practicing veterinarian for over 40 years. During his tenure there, he was awarded the American Animal Hospital Association Student Achievement award for his outstanding scholastic and clinical performance. He continued his post-graduate veterinary medical and surgical training at the world’s largest animal hospital, the Animal Medical Center (AMC) of New York. He eventually became the head of the section of cardiology and director of clinics at the world-class facility.
While at the AMC, he founded, with another veterinary cardiologist, a high-tech innovative computer based cardiac and internal medicine consulting service for veterinarians. This venture evolved into the largest provider of veterinary consulting services in the world. The company, CardioPet went public in 1984. The AMC and Cohen sold their interests in that company in 1987. Currently, Cohen owns Bay Street Animal Hospital, a six-doctor veterinary practice on Staten Island in New York.
Ronald Ferriss graduated from the University of Delaware in 1975 with a B.S. degree in Plant Science, and earned his M.S. (’79) and Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and Genetics (’80), both at the University of Minnesota. He has led an exemplary career in plant breeding. In 1979, Ferriss initiated his career as a corn breeder in Minnesota with Northrup King Co., an international seed company. From 1983 to 1990, he served as area manager for corn breeding and managed Seed Production Research and Agronomic Research functions. From 1990-1996, Ferriss served as Director of Corn Breeding, North America managing corn breeding programs and off-season nurseries across 15 locations. In 1996-1997, as Sandoz merged with Ciba-Geigy to form Novartis, he led the integration of the corn breeding research programs into a single functional unit and until 1999, was Global Head of Corn Breeding.
As the power and complexity of plant breeding increased, Ferriss focused his leadership efforts as Head of Global Inbred Line Development and Hybrid Identification. Ferriss continued in that role as Novartis and Astra-Zeneca agribusinesses merged to create Syngenta. In 2002, Ferriss became Director of Strategy Facilitation, Seeds Product Development. Ferriss joined Syngenta’s Legal Team as Head of Product Clearance and License Compliance from 2006 to 2012, followed by Head, Global Germplasm Contract Compliance from 2013 until retiring in December 2014.
David Morris is currently the Business Integration Leader, leading integration activities for the agriculture division during the Dow DuPont merger. Morris holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Entomology and Plant Pathology from the University of Delaware and a Master of Science Degree in Entomology from Virginia Tech.
He joined the Dow Chemical Company in September 1982 and has held positions as field sales representative, market research analyst, product marketing manager, district sales manager, human resources manager, group marketing manager, global business leader, six sigma champion, global commercial processes leader, Urban Pest Management Commercial Leader, U.S. Government Affairs and Public Affairs Leader and most recently U.S. Seed Affiliates Leader. Morris currently represents Dow AgroSciences on the Indiana Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
Distinguished Young Alumni
Sara-Beth Bittinger has served as the vice president of the Allegany County Board of Education since 2010, when then Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley appointed her to the position. She is currently the Director of Assessment and Institutional Research at Frostburg State University in Western Maryland and previously served as the Director of Institutional Research at Allegany College of Maryland. Bittinger’s area of expertise is in analytics and managing institutional data that reports to external and internal constituents, information essential for critical decision-making.
Bittinger received her Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Frostburg State University (FSU) and her Master of Science degree in Applied Economics from the University of Delaware. In 2017, she earned her Doctorate in Education from FSU.
Phung Luu owns and operates Behavior and Training Solutions, an animal and staff training consultancy company; and Animal Behavior and Conservation Connections, a free-flight bird show production company.
As a graduate of the University of Delaware, Luu developed a foundation for animal care and wildlife education. Working on the University farm provided practical understanding for working with chickens and corn. Fostered by a passion for working with animals from an early age, he has been training animals for over twenty-five years. Luu’s life mission is to connect people to nature and wildlife and he does this through the production of free-flight bird programs presented at schools, state parks, and zoos throughout the country. These bird programs have been featured at the Philadelphia Zoo, the Brandywine Zoo, the Bronx Zoo, and the North Carolina Zoo to name a few. Not only are the shows entertaining and educational, they raise awareness and money to support conservation projects for wild birds.
Joseph Rogerson is a Certified Wildlife Biologist and has worked for the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife for nearly 12 years. Currently, he is the program manager for Species Conservation and Research where he oversees the conservation and management of the state’s game and nongame wildlife and plant communities. Before being promoted to this position 2.5 years ago, Rogerson spent the previous nine years as Delaware’s Deer and Furbearer Biologist. Prior to working for the Division, he worked for nearly a year with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Wildlife Services as a Wildlife Specialist and before that he received his B.S. degree in wildlife and fisheries resources from West Virginia University in 2003 and a M.S. degree in wildlife ecology from the University of Delaware in 2005.
