Charles A. Lewis (1924-2003), known as the "Father of Horticultural Therapy," was a pioneer in the field of people-plant interaction and innovative horticultural programs. He held a deep-seated belief in the positive effects of nature on people, and throughout his distinguished career he sought to share that beliefe with others.
Over more than 30 years in the horticulture field, Lewis was a plant breeder, a garden center operator, director of Sterling Forest Gardens in Tuxedo, New York, an administrator of collections and research fellow at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois, and a consultant in people-plant interactions.
1924, Born on May 24 at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
1942, Enlisted in the Army and served as a weatherman in the Azores, Portugal
1949, Recieved a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Floriculture from the University of Maryland
1951, Received a Master's of Science Degree in Floriculture with a Minor in Genetics from Cornell University; Master's Thesis won an award from Ohio State University
1952, Lewis won the Alex Laurie Award from the American Society for Horticulture Science
1952-1956, Worked as a Plant Breeder at Yoder Brothers, Barberton, Ohio
1956-1960, Worked as a Grower and Garden Center Operator at Syosset, New York
1960-1972, Worked as Horticulturist and Director at Sterling Forest Gardens in Tuxedo, New York
1961, Married Sherrie Rabbino
1963-1972, Was an Advisor for the New York City Housing Authority Garden Contest
1967-1968, Was a Consultant to First Lady's (Claudia Alta 'Lady Bird' Taylor Johnson) Committee for a More Beautiful Capitol at the National Park Service
1972-1976, Was a Coordinator for the American Horticulture Society People/Plant Program
1972-1989, Worked asa Horticulturist and Administrator of Collection Programs at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois
1973-1987, Was an Advisor for the Chicago Housing Authority Garden Contest
1977, Was an Advisor for the British Columbia Housing Management Commission
1977-1980, Received a Certificate of Achievement from Vancouver Housing, British Columbia Housing Management
1978, Was a B. Y. Morrison Memorial Lecturer for the United States Department of Agriculture
1982, Was the recipient to receive the First Service Award from the Chicago Housing Authority
1983, Was a Visiting Instructor who taught a Horticultural Therapy Short Course at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas
1984, Received the Alice Burlingame Award for Humanitarian Service from the National Council for Therapy and Rehabilitation through Horticulture
1985, Received the G. B. Gunlogson Medal from the American Horticultural Society
1987, Received a Special Recognition Award from the New York City Housing Authority Tenant Gardening Competition 25th Anniversariy
1989-1992, Was a Research Fellow in Horticulture at the Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Illinois
1990-1993, Was the Chair of the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta
1991-1998, Was a Member of the Xeriscape Council of New Mexico
1992, Retired; Received the Arthur Hoyt Scott Award from Swarthmore College and the Bryn Mawr PA Award from the United States Department of Agriculture
1992-1994, Was Chair of the Human Issues in Horticulture (HIH) Committee, a sub-committee within the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta (AABGA)
1992-1998, Was a Member of the American Community Gardening Association
1994, Co-Founder of People-Plant Council
1996, Published, <emph render='italic'>Green Nature, Human Nature: The Meaning of Plants in Our Lives</emph> through University of Illinois Press; Received a Horticultural Therapy Award through the American Horticulture Society
1997, Received an Award from the American Horticultural Therapy Association
1998, Received an Award of Merit from the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta
2003, Died on December 18 from acute pancreatitis and heart complications at Albuquerque, New Mexico
Lewis published many articles on people-plant interactions in professional journals as well as in popular magazine and newspapers. His 1996 book, <emph render='italic'>Green Nature, Human Nature: The Meaning of Plants in Our Lives</emph>, is still required reading for every horticultural therapist.
Alfalfa Lawn Farm’s (ALF) primary business involved the breeding, promoting, exhibiting, and marketing the American Polled Hereford for seventy-seven years. The herd started in 1910 as a wedding gift to John M. Lewis, Walter’s father. From ten cows and one bull, John began to develop the herd. When Walter graduated from Kansas State Agricultural College (now Kansas State University) in 1935, John turned over the herd to him. Walter acquired his background in cattle breeding from his days in 4-H and working on the judging teams at KSAC, in addition to his activities around Alfalfa Lawn Farm as a young boy. John Lewis and his two sons, Walter and Joe, the youngest, managed ALF as a family-owned operation until the two sons died in 1987. Walter concentrated primarily on the business aspect of the herd, while Joe worked on the showing of the herd at the many events the Lewis’s entered around the United States.
Aside from being the foreman of the herd, Walter also traveled extensively to judge at shows and fairs. He was heavily sought after for his expertise and knowledge and judged shows in Australia, New Zealand, and England. Walter’s wife, Francis, was also active in managing the herd and farm operations. Judging from the collection, she took care of the various books and registers and performed secretarial duties.
As years passed, the quality and reputation of the herd grew, and, by 1987, progeny from Alfalfa Lawn Farm were found in virtually every state and in numerous foreign countries. Exhibition of its cattle resulted in eighteen National Grand or Reserve Grand Champion bulls and females. As the collection illustrates, people from all over the United States and many foreign countries came to tour the ranch or buy bulls. All sales, births, and deaths, of the cattle, were documented and registered.
Walter and Francis had two children, Robert “Bob” Lewis and Martha Lewis, and both attended Kansas State University; class of 1961 and 1963 respectively. Bob went to the University of Wisconsin where he received his Ph.D., while Martha continued her education at Pennsylvania State University where she received a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in 1969 and married the head of the Department of Agronomy. Walter’s brother, Joe, was married to Margaret and they had a son, John D. Lewis, and three daughters. Both Joe and Margaret were actively involved in managing the ranch. As more family members became involved in the enterprise, the business became known as “Alfalfa Lawn Farms, John M. Lewis and Sons” (records attribute the name of the business to both “Farm” and “Farms”).
Walter and Joe were involved in local, national, and international, activities, and organizations. Every spring they sponsored a field day-judging contest at the ranch where students from all across Kansas came to learn about judging and cattle. Walter was active in the Pawnee County Extension Board, Kansas Herford Association, National Western Polled Hereford Association, Kansas Polled Hereford Association, American Hereford Association, American Polled Hereford Association, while serving on other boards including the First National Bank and Trust Company of Larned, Kansas, and the Livestock and Meat Industry Council of Manhattan, Kansas.
Coincidentally, both Walter and Joe died in 1987. After their deaths, Francis and Margaret decided to have a dispersal sale of Alfalfa Lawn Farm in November of that year.
Jim Lehnert donate materials from the estate of Francis D Farrell to Special Collections.
Dr. Stewart Munro Lee (1925-2007) was born on August 7, 1925, Beaver Falls, PA. He served in the Navy during World War II (1943-1946). On June 11, 1947, he married Ann Gilchrist. He received his B.A. in Economics from Geneva College in 1949, and his M. A. and Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Pittsburgh, PA. Dr. Lee made a significant contribution to economics on a regional and national level. He testified many times in the consumer interest before House and Senate Committees and government agencies in Washington, D.C. Minutes of these sessions refer to Dr. Lee as an authority in the field of consumer economics.
In June 1964, Dr. Lee was selected as a delegate of the American Council on Consumer Interests to the biennial congresses of the International Organization of Consumers Union held in Oslo, Norway. He was also selected to attend the Fourth Biennial Conference held in Nathanya, Israel in June 1966 and as a delegate to the Fifth Biennial Conference at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York in 1968.
In 1978, Dr. Lee was a consumer advisor in the United States delegation to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Switzerland. He was also a delegate to the conference in Baden, Austria; Stockholm, Sweden; London, England; and Madrid Spain.
Dr. Lee co-authored the book Economics for the Consumer published in 1967 by the American Book Company.
In 1989, Dr. Lee was part of the New Start: Consumer Insurance Project. New Start’s aim was to educate consumers about the benefits of no-fault automobile insurance and to work for its acceptance as a solution to escalating insurance costs and the numerous auto-personal injury lawsuits that were clogging the nation’s courts. After the members did some research, New Start amended its proposal to suggest a Personal Protection Policy designed to allow consumers to choose the coverage they personally needed.
Although Dr. Lee was a professor at Geneva College, he also taught classes at other colleges and universities, presented lectures, and participated in panel discussions.
Stewart M. Lee died on July 1, 2007.
Wendell Eugene Lady was a prominent Kansas state legislator. Born the son of Samuel Jefferson and Mary Olive (Frey) Lady in Abilene, Kansas on December 12, 1930, he graduated from Abilene High School in 1948 and subsequently earned a Bachelor of Science degree in architectural engineering from Kansas State University in 1952. After graduation, he moved to Overland Park, Kansas to work as a consulting engineer and project manager for Black & Veatch, and married Mary Jean Robbins, with whom he had three children.
Lady was elected to the Overland Park City Council, which he served on from 1965-1969. In 1967, he advocated and passed the first bond issue providing for a city parks system, and served as chairman of the council's first Parks and Recreation Committee. He served as President of the council for one term before being elected as a State Representative for Kansas' 19th District, a seat he held for seven consecutive terms from 1968 to 1982. He emerged as one of the leaders of a moderate faction of state Republican Party, and served as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee from 1975 to 1976, House minority leader from 1977 to 1978, and Speaker of the House from 1978 to 1982.
During Lady's time in the legislature, he was known as a strong supporter of state aid for secondary schools and universities, and supported a severance tax on oil and gas with the revenue directed to the state education system. This put him at odds with many rural Republican representatives more oriented to oil and gas industry concerns.
Lady lost a bitterly-contested primary election bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination to Sam Hardage in 1982, and declined to return to the legislature. He was named to the Kansas Board of Regents by Democratic Governor John Carlin, and served from 1983 to 1986 as chairman.
Lady continued to work as an architectural engineer for Black & Veatch, but retired sometime in the early 2000s. In 2014, he emerged as one of many elder statesman of the Kansas Republican Party who spoke out against the tax policies of Governor Sam Brownback. He joined the steering committee of the group Republicans for Kansas Values, comprised of current and former Republican officials, and criticized the tax legislation, citing its unsound fiscal policy and the impact on education funding. He joined more than a hundred GOP politicians in supporting Democrat Paul Davis' candidacy for governor.
Henry "Hank" Fred Kupfer was a Kansas State University alumnus who served during the Second World War and was the owner and operator of the Kupfer Carnation Farm. He was born on April 3, 1918 to Fred and Elizabeth Krupfer of Kansas City, Missouri. He graduated from Raytown High School where he ran track and served as Student Body President, and subsequently attended Kansas State University, where he served as President of the Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) fraternity and entered the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program. He graduated in 1940 with a degree in Horticulture and commissioned as a second lieutenant in the infantry. However, during medical examinations, he was diagnosed with glycosuria, a common indicator of diabetes, and discharged into the inactive reserve. He disputed his diagnosis, having exhibited no diabetic disorder, without success. When the United States entered the Second World War, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1942 and was primarily stationed in Panama. His time in the service took him across the United States as well as to Cuba, Jamaica, Equador, and Peru. He attained the rank of sergeant before his discharge in 1944. (Note: due to the regulations of the time, Kupfer was simultaneously an enlistedman in the active duty Army Air Corps while also a lieutenant in the inactive reserve. This is demonstrated in his military records in the Henry F. Kupfer papers).
He wed Marguerite (Busch) Kupfer, and had two children together, Lee and Connie. He went into the family business of floral horticulture, and was owner and operator of the Kupfer Carnation Farm, and President of the American Carnation Society.
Gail Kubik was an internationally recognized composer and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. After growing up in Coffeyville, Kansas, Kubik, at the age of 15, became the youngest person ever awarded a scholarship to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York in 1929. His composition “"The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" won first prize in the Kansas Federation of Music Clubs annual contest in 1931. After graduating from the Eastman School in 1934 with degrees in composition and violin, Kubik became an instructor of violin and a conductor at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois and at South Dakota Wesleyan University. In 1937, he became the youngest person ever admitted to Harvard’s doctoral music program. From 1938 to 1939, Kubik taught at Columbia University, while from 1940 to 1941, he worked as NBC’s staff composer. Throughout this time, his compositions continued to win awards and were performed nationwide.
During World War 2, Kubik served as a music consultant for the Bureau of Motion Pictures in the Office of War Information, then as composer for the Army Air Corp’s First Motion Picture Unit. In 1943, he received the National Association for American Composers and Conductors Citation for “Best Documentary Film Score of the Year” for “World at War.” In 1944, he was stationed in England to complete the score for “Memphis Belle,” which would go on to win a New York Film Critics’ Award. Kubik returned to the U.S. in 1945 and left the military in 1946.
Kubik briefly returned to work in Hollywood on film scores from 1949 to 1950, including for the Academy Award-winning “George McBoing-Boing,” after which he lived in Europe for several years conducting for multiple orchestras, including the Orchestra Sinfonica della Radio Italiana, the London Philharmonic, the BBC orchestra and the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris. In 1952, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his “Symphony Concertante.” After living in Europe from 1959 to 1967, Kubik was a visiting professor at Kansas State University in 1969. While at K-State, he was commissioned to compose a dedication piece for McCain Auditorium, which resulted in “A Record of Our Time.” Throughout the 1970s, Kubik continued to serve as a visiting professor at various universities. He died on July 20, 1984.
Kansas State University’s first Student Council was formed with the approval of a constitution on June 12, 1909. By 1919 the Student Council had undergone changes and became the Student Self Governing Association. In 1926 the student government adopted a new constitution and became the Student Governing Association. Since the reorganization the Student Governing Association has had a President elected by the students. The rest of the Student Governing Association was comprised of a small representative body elected by the students. The Student Council assumed the responsibility for the executive functions as well as the judicial.
During the 1953-1954 year there was a shift where the student council switched from a small council of students to a three branch form of government with executive, legislative and judicial branches. The legislative branch debates and votes on legislative proceedings and allocates the funds from the student privilege fees. The judicial branch is meant review non-academic disciplinary student issues at Kansas State University. The executive branch acts as the representative of the student body to the university administration.
1872 C.P. Dewey purchased first parcel of real estate (175 acres) which is now the northwest corner of the Konza Prairie
1911-1920 Limestone barn and house built for Dewey Ranch as a residence for employees; today the house serves as Konza Prairie headquarters and education center (named and dedicated as the Hulbert Center for Research in 1997)
1930 Ranch sold by Dewey - there were several owners prior to the purchase by The Nature Conservancy
1951 The Nature Conservancy incorporated in District of Columbia as a non-profit, private, membership governed organization
1956 Lloyd Hulbert first presented the idea of a prairie field station for ecological research to KSU
1971 Original land for Konza Prairie, excluding the Dewey Ranch, acquired by The Nature Conservancy (December 30) for Kansas State University
1972 Management plan developed; burning of watershed sized units at prescribed intervals
1977 Dewey Ranch purchased in January by The Nature Conservancy after several years of negotiations with McKnight family, the last private owner of the land
1979 Anonymous donor of funds for purchase of land and Dewey Ranch identified after her death - Katharine Ordway. Additional 480 acres added to west side of Konza Prairie. King's Creek, a central tract of 2619 acres on KPRNA, added to the U.S. Geological Survey's network of benchmark watersheds
1980 Official dedication of Konza Prairie Research Natural Area Network of sites dedicated to long-term ecological research (LTER) started by the National Science Foundation
1986 Lloyd Hulbert died - served as first director of Konza Prairie until his death
1986 Konza Prairie featured on television series "The Making of a Continent" by the British Broadcasting Corporation (November)
1987 Ted Barkley named coordinator of Konza Prairie. Bison introduced to Konza; Bison and Cattle Grazing Management Plan developed and implemented
1987-1989 NASA Satellite Land Surface Climatology Projects conducted during the summer
1988 Maintenance building renovated and converted into laboratories
1988 Plots near Hulbert Memorial renamed Hulbert Experimental Burning Plots
1990 Donald W. Kaufman named coordinator of Konza Prairie
1992 Ted Barkley named coordinator of Konza Prairie (January). Cattle grazing treatments began and bison grazing area expanded
1993 Jim Reichman named director of Konza Prairie. Friends of Konza established
1995 David Hartnett named director of Konza Prairie
1997 Celebration of 25th Anniversary for Konza (May). Renovated Dewey Ranch house renamed the Hulbert Center for Research Environmental Educator position added and Konza Environmental Education Program (KEEP) created
1997-1998 New bison corral facilities constructed
1998 Tallgrass prairie restorations initiated on cultivated fields
1999 New fire station and maintenance building constructed. Laboratory/shop building renovated for laboratory expansion
The K-Laires square dance club was a student organization at Kansas State University from 1971 to 1993. Membership was open to all K-State students. The organization’s purpose was to teach members the methods and techniques of square dancing, have fun, and make friends. The group met for lessons on Sunday nights at the Union. It generally took 22 lessons to learn all of the steps. Beginners could join at the beginning of the fall semester. The K-Laires sponsored specialty dances throughout the academic year and traveled around the state to participate in other clubs’ square dances. Non-members who attended dances were called “outlaws.” According to the Royal Purple yearbook, the Hoe-downers were the K-Laires’ predecessor.
1934 - Born March 11, 1934, place unknown; Raised in Houston, Texas, after the Second World War. Roy Kiesling graduated Yale University with a major in English and a self- described "overwhelming fascination for sports cars." Thereafter, he briefly taught English before entering the University of Texas Law program
1960 - Completing his course of legal study in three years with a Bachelor of Laws degree, he moved to San Francisco and worked as an administrator of research contracts for then-Lockheed Missles and Space Company
1961-1966 - Enrolled in San Jose State College as a student of engineering, but later switched majors to Physics
1966 - The University of Texas retroactively granted Kiesling status as a Doctor of Jurisprudence.
1970 - Worked as a volunteer for Paul Ehrlich's Zero Population Growth (ZPG) organization, eventually becoming the spokesman for the ZPG's task group on Consumer environmental responsibility
1970 - Attended the ten day "Summer Alumni College on Environment" conference at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California
1971-1972 - Co-founded the Consumer Alliance with Paul Ehrlich and Richard Harriman
1971- Sparred with congressional representative Peter McCloskey over the contents of the federal legislature's Consumer Protection Agency (CPA) bills
1971 - April; Met with Ralph Nader over his opposition to the Consumer Alliance's organizational structure and anti-lobbyist stance. Soon after Nader created a counter-organization, called Public Citizen.
1971 - December; Attended the Ad Hoc Food Labeling Conference at which he became friends with Helen Nelson, then-Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs to California Governor Bobbie Brown, and Consumer Movement leader Esther Peterson
1972 - January; Liaised with Walker Sandbach, Executive Director fo the Consumer Union and Consumer Federation of America President Helen Nelson at the Consumer Federation of America Conference
1972 - Donated $1,000 to the presidential campaign of George McGovern
1972 - Worked to resolve "The Great Chevrolet Engine Mount Controversy" in which the car company released cars for sale with defective engine stabilization parts
1973 - Invited by Virginia Knauer the White House Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs to attended a special meeting of the Consumer Federation of America held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At the meeting, attendees split into factions with competing visions of the Consumer Movement. The incident has often been called "the Milwaukee Massacre"
1973-1974 - During the Tucson Symposium, a dozen individuals, including Currin Shields, Louis Meyer, and Fr. Robert McEwen, form the Conference of Consumer Organizations
1973-1976 - Represented the Consumers United of Palo Alto and the Consumers Cooperative Society of Palo Alto, California against government protectionism of American agribusiness
1974 - Participated in the renewed congressional fight for a consumer-oriented federal agency
1975 - Researched consumer Co-ops in response to discussions during a January Consumer Federation of American meeting
1976 - Summer; Participated in the "Consumer '76 conference sponsored by the California State Department of Consumer Affairs
1976 - Summer; Attended the JC Penny Consumer Affairs Forum
1976-1985 - Served on the advisory board and staff of the Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) in the Department of Consumer Affairs
1977 - Inaugurated as president of the Consumer Federation of California
1977 - Invited to participate in a White House discussion, attempting to reinvigorate the debate for a consumer-friendly federal agency
1977 - Inspired by a meeting with Colston Warne on the campus of MIT, Kiesling began writing an autobiography of his time in the Consumer Movement and the direction the movement should next take. The unpublished manuscript, entitled "Report to Those Most Concerned", describes his time in the Consumer Movement
1978 - The Federal Consumer protection Agency Bill was defeated in the House of Representatives
1978-1983 - Served on the Consumer Advisory Council of the AT&T divestiture Pacific Telephone
1980 - Completed writing "A Report to those Most Concerned"
1980-1988 - Provided consultation for various organizations on Intermittent Ignition Devices and California's Car Lemon Laws
2007 - Lobbied to ban genetically engineered drug-producing safflower
2007 - Lived in Santa Cruz, California
2010 - The Dodd-Frank Bill, calling for the creation of a Consumer Affairs Bureau, passed both houses and was signed into law by President Barack Obama.
Martha Elizabeth Ludwig was born August 10, 1930, in Hutchinson, Kansas, the daughter of Sylvester and Clara Ludwig. She graduated from Paseo High School in Kansas City, Missouri in 1945, attended Olivet College in Kankakee, Illinois, 1946-1947, and earned a B.A. at the University of Missouri in 1951.
In 1949, She married Samuel Robert Keys, a university professor and later, Dean of the College of Education at Kansas State University. She was a Democratic campaigner in 1964 and 1968. She ran the McGovern presidential campaign in Kansas in 1972. When Bill Roy retired from the U. S. Congress she was persuaded to run for the seat by her brother-in-law, Senator Gary Hart, a Colorado Democrat.
She was elected a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives from Manhattan, Kansas in 1974 and served two terms before being defeated for reelection in 1978. While serving in the House of Representatives, Keys and her husband divorced, and she married fellow Congressman Andrew Jacobs, Jr. They separated in 1981 and eventually divorced.
She served as a special adviser to the Secretary of Heath, Education and Welfare from February 1979 to May 1980 and as an Assistant Secretary of Education from June 1980 to Jan 1981. In 1982, Keys was elected to the Common Cause National Governing Board. Afterwards, she worked as a consultant and as director of the Center for a New Democracy from 1985-1986.
Curtis Lynn Kastner was born on September 21, 1944 in Altus, Oklahoma to Alma Darlene (Shield) and Carlus Kastner. He attended Altus Junior High School and Altus High School, graduating in 1962. On August 6, 1966, Kastner married Rebecca Jon Diltz in Altus, Oklahoma and they had two sons, Jason Lynn (born April 4, 1972) and Justin John (born March 21, 1975).
Kastner attended Oklahoma State University (OSU) in Stillwater, Oklahoma where he received a Bachelor’s of Science in Hotel and Restaurant Administration in 1967, a Master’s of Science in Food Science-Meat Science in 1969, and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Food Science-Meat Science in 1972. Kastner worked as a graduate research assistant at OSU in the food science-meat science department from 1967 to 1972 while obtaining his master’s and doctoral degrees. He then went on to teach as an assistant professor in Food Science and Technology at Washington State University from 1972-1975. Kastner was hired as an assistant professor in the Department of Animal Sciences and Industry (ASI) at Kansas State University (KSU) in 1975. In 1977, he was promoted to associate professor and in 1982 to professor - a role he held until 2003.<emph render='italic'> </emph>He served nine years in the Army reserves and was honorably discharged in 1980 as a captain. Kastner was the chairman of the Undergraduate Food Science and Industry program for 5 years during his time at KSU, he was a research coordinator within ASI from 1987-2001, and the associate department head for ASI from 1998-2001. He was instrumental in the development of the Food Science Institute at Kansas State and was the first director of FSI from 2001 to his retirement in July of 2016.
Kastner has published over 100 articles, 8 of which he is the primary investigator and several more as a co-primary. Specifically, he was the principal investigator on the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Homeland Security initiatives focused on food safety and defense. The funding for Kastner’s research came from varied sources throughout his career. Some primary supporters include the United State Department of Agriculture, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the Grain Sorghum Commission, the American Meat Institute Foundation, and the National Food Safety Institute.
Kastner has received numerous honors include the Outstanding Faculty Award, 1982; Phi Kappa Phi Scholar Award, 1986; Phi Tau Sigma Outstanding Food Scientist Award, 1993; Gamma Sigma Delta Research Award of Merit, 1996; and Distinguished Faculty Award, 2000. He also was named a National Association of Colleges and Teacher of Agriculture fellow in 1985; received the Advanced Degree Graduate of Distinction Award at Oklahoma State University in 2000; the Faculty Service Award from the University of Continuing Education Association in 2006; Gamma Sigma Delta National Award, Distinguished Achievement in Agriculture for 2008-2009; and K-State chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta, Distinguished Achievement in Agriculture Award in 2009. He is a member of the American Society of Animal Science, the American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists, the Institute of Food Technologists, Society of the Sigma Xi, Gamma Sigma Delta, Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Tau Sigma, Council for Agricultural Science and Technology and the American Meat Science Association.
Kansas Young Farmer & Young Farm Wives/Women (KYFW) was an organization created by the Kansas State Board of Vocational Agriculture to promote vocational agricultural education past high school and was administered through Kansas State University. The organization was formed in 1960, with its first articles of incorporation being filed on 5/24/1962 The organization and its members are closely tied to their younger counterpart, Future Farmers of America (FFA) often sharing the same administrators and being involved in FFA events either via sponsorship or as program presenters. KYFW placed heavy emphasis on continuing education within the agriculture field. Encouraging its members to actively share and develop new techniques and technology. They also valued strong leadership skills, asking their members to not only be actively involved in the organization, at the leadership level, but also within their community.
The Kansas State University Social Club was founded in 1911 and is still operating today. The club's purpose was to create friendships across multiple disciplines at KSU. The social club offers meetings, club meals, and programs to members.