STILLWATER, Okla. – Oklahoma State University’s Damona Doye has been named the 2012 recipient of the Sarkeys Distinguished Professor Award by the OSU Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.
The Sarkeys award is based on outstanding contributions to agriculture through teaching, research or extension efforts. The award was established by the Sarkeys Foundation in 1980 to honor Elmo Baumann, an agronomist who worked with the foundation after his retirement from OSU.
“Every aspect of Damona’s work is designed to enhance farm and ranch managerial skills and, thus, the probability of success for agricultural producers,” said Mike Woods, DASNR interim vice president, dean and director. “The reach of her programming includes producers, agricultural lenders and agricultural industry personnel, as well as Cooperative Extension staff throughout Oklahoma and beyond.”
It is not the first time Doye has been honored with a Sarkeys recognition: An OSU Regents professor and Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service farm management specialist, Doye has been the holder of the Sarkeys Distinguished Professorship in Agricultural Science since October 2010.
Doye’s portfolio has necessarily spanned a wide variety of topics and commodities with a range of educational resources and methods of delivery, from publications and websites to personal presentations and “hands-on” computer workshops. Topics typically include financial planning and management, with specific areas of emphasis on record-keeping, cost of production, farmland values, software tools, rental rates and leasing agreements.
A Cowboys alumna who earned her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in agricultural economics from OSU in 1980 and 1981, respectively, Doye has long been considered a professional who embodies the land-grant mission of helping people make use of the latest scientific advances to improve the quality of their lives.
“It never fails that when a true crisis affects agricultural producers in Oklahoma, one of the first OSU Cooperative Extension state specialists to answer the call to help our clientele is Damona Doye,” said Brad Tipton, Canadian County Extension director and agricultural educator.
Doye is a past recipient of the division’s Outstanding Extension Program Award, and has been honored by the Oklahoma Association of Extension Agricultural Agents, National Association of Agricultural Extension Agents and the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, among others.
She has served as director on the board of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association and as president of the Southern Agricultural Economics Association. Other leadership positions include serving as chair and on the board of directors for the Council on Food, Agriculture and Resource Economics; U.S. vice president on the board of directors for the International Farm Management Association following its 2012 Congress; and on grant panels and national initiative teams for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Census of Ag Review, among others.
A faculty member with the OSU department of agricultural economics since 1986, Doye has served as an economics adviser with a USAID project to Poland aimed at supporting emerging democracies and as an adviser on the Oklahoma Bankers Association agricultural committee. She helped develop a new online version of Ag Bank Sim and market it nationally, and is one of three instructors for the simulation in the OBA’s intermediate School of Banking.
Woods contends Doye has been a pioneer in many ways. She was DASNR’s first female OSU Cooperative Extension state specialist. She was the first female member of the Southern Extension Farm Management Committee and the North Central Farm management Extension Committee, and eventually served as chair of both. She has received numerous accolades in recognition of the excellence and usefulness of her many programs.
“Damona is among the most dedicated professionals the land-grant system has ever seen,” he said. “I’ve known her for many years, and I’m still not quite sure how she fits so many activities into her day. But she does, and Oklahoma’s agricultural industries and rural communities have been the better for it.”
The daughter of Damon and Georgia Doye of Lawton, she earned her doctoral degree in agricultural economics with a minor in statistics from Iowa State University in 1986 before returning to Oklahoma and OSU.
###
REPORTER/MEDIA CONTACT:
Donald Stotts
Communications Specialist
Agricultural Communications Services
143 Agriculture North
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK 74078
Phone: 405-744-4079
Fax: 405-744-5739
Email: [email protected]
Oklahoma State University, U. S. Department of Agriculture, State and Local governments cooperating; Oklahoma State University in compliance with Title VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Executive Order 11246 as amended, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and other federal and state laws and regulations, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, age, religion, disability, or status as a veteran in any of its policies, practices, or procedures, and is an equal opportunity employer.
