Stiegler travel grants awarded to graduate students

The first beneficiaries of the Chris Stiegler Turfgrass Science Graduate Student Travel Award Fund received $500 each to defray travel expenses to the Crop Science Society meetings in San Antonio last month. Twenty-one students applied for the award, which was presented to Ben Pease (far left in photo), a graduate student of John Stier, Ph.D., at the University of Wisconsin, and Dustin Lewis (far right), a graduate student of Fred Yelverton, Ph.D., at North Carolina State University. 

The awards were announced at the Turfgrass Science Division Business Meeting Oct. 11, 2011 in San Antonio. Chris Stiegler’s parents, Jim and Connie Stiegler (center, photo), participated in the presentation of the awards and spoke to the group. 

In an emotional address to the members, Jim Stiegler said, “I am grateful for the opportunity to share with you all the things you already know about Chris. He was dedicated to his work. He loved golf. He loved turf. He started playing golf when he was 5 years old. He was looking forward to getting out of being a graduate student and going on to teach. … This – although it’s something you never want to happen – provides us a special (time for) rethinking our lives and our priorities.” 

The travel fund awards were established to honor James Christopher Stiegler, who had just completed his first semester as an assistant professor of turfgrass ecology and physiology at Texas A&M University in College Station, when he and his wife, Jenny died in a car accident on Dec. 24, 2010. As a graduate student and a new professor, Stiegler had been active in C-5. His father, Jim Stiegler, has been a long-time member of both the Agronomy Society of America and the Soil Science Society of America. 

The executive committee of C-5 has agreed to pursue the idea of holding a golf fundraiser to raise money for the Turfgrass Science Graduate Student Travel Award, and the concept has been approved by Keith Schelsinger, the CSSA’s director of meetings and conventions. The committee is investigating the possibility of holding a golf tournament or similar activity before the next CSSA meeting in Cincinnati in October 2012. 

A minimum of $25,000 is needed to fully endow the travel fund. If you would like to support this activity, donations can be submitted either by check or through a secure, online form.

To submit a check, make checks out to ASF; note Chris Stiegler Fund on the memo line, and send to:
ASF, 5585 Guilford Road, Madison, WI 53711

To submit a secure, online donation, select Chris Stiegler Graduate Student Travel Fund from the dropdown list on the CSSA foundation website at: https://www.crops.org/foundation/donate 

If desired, portions of gifts can be earmarked as “available for immediate award” so that awards can be made before the fund has reached an endowed level. If you need any assistance in discussing this program with potential donors, please contact: Mike Richardson, Ph.D. (mricha@uark.edu); Richard White, Ph.D. (rh-white@tamu.edu); or Greg Bell, Ph.D. (greg.bell@okstate.edu).

Comments

[Stephania Eckstrom]

Auh, it feels good to read news like this. Those beneficiaries are probably thankful for this program. Congratulations to them, btw. I'm sure a lot of people look forward to that golf fundraiser project this October. Good luck to everyone!