Marshall County Purdue Extension Educator Karen Richey is the recipient of the Indiana Farm Bureau’s 2021 Frederick L. Hovde Award of Excellence in Educational Service.
Glenn W. Sample Dean of the Purdue College of Agriculture Karen Plaut said Richey has been making an impact on the lives of residents at the local, state and national levels while also “mentoring numerous educators throughout Indiana” for 31 years.
Plaut commented, “She [Richey] is renowned for her expertise on food, nutrition and food safety, has provided statewide leadership on numerous boards and task forces, and was instrumental in creating the Purdue Extension food safety team. She is deeply deserving of this honor.”
Richey said she was quite surprised when Plaut called her with the news.
“I still am in awe,” Richey said. “When she called I was like, ‘you’ve got to be kidding me.’ Not one person wins this. It’s a team award and that’s how I feel about it because Purdue Extension is totally a mission for people in the State of Indiana that we want to reach out and we want to serve. It takes more than one person to do that.”
Richey was presented the award at the annual Indiana Farm Bureau convention December 9 in French Lick.
She noted that Frederick L. Hovde was the president of Purdue University for 25 years before his retirement in 1971 and the Indiana Farm Bureau presented a generous monetary gift in honor of him. Richey said he award recipient exemplifies two purposes.
“One is to recognize outstanding educational contributions by a faculty or staff member and the second to encourage continued achievement and service. It was my honor to win this year!”
Richey was nominated by three fellow Health and Human Science educators and supported by Amanda Deering, who is a clinical associate professor in Purdue’s food sciences department.
