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Wisconsin Ag News Headlines
Knipschild, Cates Honored by Farm & Industry Short Course
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 02/16/2012

Two longtime friends of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Farm and Industry Short Course were recognized for their efforts during the group's annual reunion recently.

Karen Knipschild, who is an advisor for the UW Higher Education Location Program, was presented with a Friend of Short Course award. Karen was hired by Dr. Richard Daluge as his graduate assistant in 2001 while enrolled full time in UW-Madison's Continuing and Vocational Education master's program. Her master's thesis, 'The Nature of Learning Among Women in Agriculture,' was based on two years of research and interviews with twelve female farming managers who either graduated from FISC or the four year degree program. After receiving her master's degree she served as interim director upon Daluge's retirement and was eventually hired as the assistant director.

Among her many duties as assistant director, Karen was the primary public information and recruitment officer visiting hundreds of Wisconsin agricultural high school classrooms in addition to representing FISC at Farm Technology Days, World Dairy Expo, Wisconsin State Fair, and state and national FFA conventions. She was responsible for the development of the Farm & Industry Short Course Ambassador program and taught the English Composition class for four years.

The 2012 Service to Agriculture Award was presented to Dr. Richard Cates. He is the coordinator of the Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy Farmers, a program of the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems within the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the UW-Madison. Dick earned his Ph.D. in Soil Science and Plant Health from Madison while serving an Aldo Leopold Fellowship. He received his M.S. in Soil Science from Montana State University in 1979, and B.A. in Anthropology and Geography, Dartmouth College in 1974. Shortly after completion of the Ph.D., he served for eight years as agriculturist with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture's Sustainable Agriculture Program.

Cates holds a 75-percent-time appointment within the CALS, working as Senior Lecturer in the Department of Soil Science. He is also the director of a new CALS Grazing Systems Programming Initiative.

In addition to his work with the school, Dick and Kim Cates and their three children, have operated an 800-acre managed-grazing beef steer and custom dairy heifer business since 1987.

Over 170 graduates, current students, supporters and friends of the UW-Madison Farm and Industry Short Course attended the reunion to celebrate the group's 127th anniversary.


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