A 21st-Century Perspective
by Richard J. Zeyen
The Department’s existence has spanned two centuries. In that time, human existence underwent tremendous changes. National boundaries, economics, culture, science, technology, medicine, communications and human migration all changed dramatically. Perhaps the greatest changes of all occurred in agriculture.
For most of civilization, farming had not changed since the middle ages. A farmer from the 17th century would recognize a 1907 Minnesota farm (the year the Department was founded). He would recognize the draft animals and understand the functions of basic farm tools. However, that same farmer would be unable to comprehend what he would see on a 2007 farm. He would be unable to mentally process petroleum-fueled tractors, trucks and combines or even weed-free fields. Neither would he be able to comprehend electricity or how it replaced muscle power on farms. Things found on modern farms like telephones, radios, television, the Internet and drones would seem to be “black magic” to someone from the 17th century. Even crops like soybeans or sunflowers and certain farm animals would be unfamiliar. Simply put, changes in agriculture during the 20th and 21st centuries were far greater than at any time since the dawn of civilization.
Agriculture had to become “industrialized” in order to feed a human population rapidly approaching 8 billion, compared with 1.75 billion in 1907. Farms today use advanced communication technologies, and farmers purchase packages of technology. Companies not only sell farmers specific seed varieties adapted for their farms, but also specific fertilizers, weed and pest control agents, and other inputs and services unique to their geographic location. Increasingly large corporate farms are the norm when it comes to growing wheat, maize, soybeans, potatoes and sugar beets.
An era of threatened food security. In the 21st century a renewed sense of urgency regarding food insecurity spread through the world, and greatly impacted the applied plant sciences. How could we feed the projected 10 billion people who would inhabit our planet by 2050? In addition to an exploding human population, greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, primarily caused by burning fossil fuels, resulted in changed weather patterns. Storms became more severe, as did droughts. Worldwide the risks of declining yields of crops like wheat rose as did prices.
Human migration patterns changed. Migration away from warming equatorial regions where farming had become difficult increased as did migration from regions plagued by persistent flooding and/or droughts.
Atmospheric warming and crop failures also caused political upheaval and conflicts. A classic example was a political disturbance caused by crop failures and high food prices called the Arab Spring.
In addition, climate change during 2010-2021 brought historic drought conditions to the western and southwestern United States resulting in crop failures, forest fires and other water shortage problems for tens of millions. Minnesota fared better than most states in terms of weather events during these two decades, although summers and winters were warmer, and storms were more intense.
Scientific collaboration by departmental faculty
In the Department, national and international research collaborations increased as newly emerging and other endemic plant diseases came to the forefront. Advanced telecommunications utilizing the Internet spurred these collaborations onward. Time-consuming travel was greatly reduced. National and international collaborations accelerated, broadened and deepened research at Minnesota while adding depth and breadth to PLPA students’ education.
Progress in science and technology affecting plant pathology
The long-awaited merger of molecular genetics and genomics with Mendelian genetics, the genetics of visible phenotypes, took place. Precise breeding (genetic marker-assisted breeding) of plants for disease resistant phenotypes was accelerated by several factors of magnitude.
In addition, improved genetic engineering technologies allowed for multiple resistance genes to be moved between plants and plant species. This eliminated some very time-consuming back crossing. There was increased use of wild relatives of potato, wheat, oats as sources of disease resistance genes.
Gene chip microarrays accelerated the study of expression of a multiplicity of genes active in both susceptible and disease resistance responses.
The study of the regulation of genes important to both susceptibility and disease resistance was enhanced by exploring signal transduction pathways controlling these events. Genetic engineering using advanced genome editing technologies like Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) allowed for editing of genes involved important to disease resistance and to general crop improvement.
The study of microbial pathogen variation accelerated. The development of genetic markers for pathogen genomes greatly expanded knowledge regarding the extent of variation in fungal pathogens, especially the rust fungi. This research was accelerated by using Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Arrays (SNPs) that revealed specific sites of variation in fungal genomes.
Diagnostics and disease survey improvements
Diagnostics greatly benefited from improved serological tests (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays, or ELISA) and from Polymerase Chain Reaction Technology (PCR). Both technologies were soon employed in the University of Minnesota’s Plant Disease Clinic.
Disease survey and crop and forest monitoring technologies helped ascertain plant health in fields and forests. Drones equipped with cameras and various other sensors, like reflected wavelengths from healthy and diseased or stressed plants, became commonplace; as did remote sensing for moisture and other environmental conditions. During the early 21st century these technologies were being deployed.
New and emerging plant diseases
In Minnesota, as well as worldwide, crop planting densities increased. For example, corn that used to be planted 30 inches between rows was now planted in 20 and even 15 inches between rows; correspondingly, the number of corn plants per acre increased from 22,000 to 35,000 or 40,000 per acre. A similar increase in plant densities occurred in soybeans and other crops. This crowding of plants resulted in dense plant canopies and moisture buildup beneath these canopies. Moist under-canopy conditions caused increases of many plant diseases like Corn Anthracnose and White Mold of Soybeans. The causal fungi for these diseases can survive in soil or plant debris and infect plants during moist under-canopy conditions. Other prevalent fungal diseases include Fusarium head blight and soybean rust, both of which made large-scale
In general, there was a rise in the incidence of soil-borne plant diseases. This resulted in research on soils and soil conditions which suppressed these diseases. These efforts led to advanced studies of the soil microbiome, and the bacteria that enhance disease suppression primarily through the production of natural occurring antibiotics.
New plant-based industries and associated crops appeared. Among these were the local growing of hops for an expanding beer microbrewery industry. Hops are used to add bitterness, flavor and stability to beer. Some varieties of hops proved particularly susceptible to powdery mildew disease.
Leadership changes, improved facilities, and renewed challenges
Leadership Changes and Legislative Support Changes. The Department of Plant Pathology at Minnesota changed Department Heads three times during these two decades. Dr. Frank Pfleger (1996-2004) retired and was replaced by Dr. Carol Ishimaru. Dr. Ishimaru stepped down in 2013 for health reasons and rejoined the faculty, and Dr. James Bradeen became Department Head. Each faced budgetary challenges, as funding support from the Minnesota Legislature for the University dropped from 26% in 2001 to 18% in 2021. Thus, cuts to Departmental support staff and services deepened. To counteract some of these losses, grant and contract fund-raising by faculty increased as did the quest for endowment funds used for student scholarships, fellowships and travel to professional meetings.
In 2001 there were twenty-one state-supported faculty in the Department of Plant Pathology and nine adjunct faculty. Of these, four were Extension faculty and four were stationed outstate. Thus, there were only eleven teaching/research faculty on the Saint Paul campus at the beginning of the 21st Century. See Highlights Through the Years at the bottom of this webpage for the names of these faculty.
New and Renovated Buildings Reflect Scientific Changes. The Cargill Corporation, a privately held, global agricultural corporation based in Minnesota, pledges 10 million dollars to the University for a dollar-for-dollar match by the state Legislature, to build a Plant and Microbial Genomics Building located on the Saint Paul Campus, now the Cargill Building. The state Legislature accepted and the 20-million-dollar, 64,000 sq. ft. building was completed in 2003. It was built across Gortner Avenue from the Stakman Hall of Plant Pathology.
Professors William Bushnell, Leslie Szabo, Nevin Young and Richard Zeyen initially represented the Department of Plant Pathology in the newly formed faculty of the Microbial and Plant Genomics Institute. Later, several other faculty members from Plant Pathology and many more faculty from across the University joined. Professor Nevin Young was especially active in this Institute and was eventually housed in the Cargill Building.
In 2003 University President Mark Yudof resigned to become Chancellor of the University of Texas. President Yudof was instrumental in obtaining funding for many building projects and building renovations directly affecting Plant Pathology. Yudof was replaced by Professor Robert Bruininks, formerly Dean of the College of Education and Human Development, who helped with renovating Stakman Hall and the Christensen Laboratory Building. A number of updates and new constructions were also made for greenhouse space and biocontainment on-campus, including plant growth containment facilities created and operated by U of M MAES and MDA. These prominently included two buildings with state funding: a Biosecurity Level 2 (BSL-2) facility which opened in 2003, and a Biosecurity Level 3 (BSL-3) facility which opened in 2009, one of few BSL-3 facilities in the United States.
After 30 years the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station’s Cooperative Electron Optics Facility, directed by Professor Richard Zeyen, was moved from Christensen Laboratories to the College of Biological Sciences’s remodeled Snyder Hall of Biochemistry. Eventually it would become part of a Twin Cities Campus unified University Imaging Centers organization run by the Medical School.
Departmental centennial
Prior to the Plant Pathology Department’s Centennial, United States President George W. Bush presented our nation’s highest honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, to alumnus Norman Borlaug. Soon thereafter, the Department celebrated its 100th anniversary with Norman Borlaug in attendance.
Faculty and alumni had made the Department one of the most distinguished in the world. During its first 100 years the Department’s expertise and knowledge spread far beyond Minnesota’s and the nation’s borders. Indeed, the Green Revolution of the 20th Century was led by three alumni: Elvin Charles Stakman (PhD 1913), George Jacob Harrar (PhD 1935), and Norman Ernest Borlaug (PhD 1942). They demonstrated to the world how to harness the power of science for the benefit of all mankind. They championed the cause of international crop improvement centers throughout the world and helped bring them into existence. These crop improvement centers are now parts of a cooperative organization—the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). In addition, Norman Borlaug established the World Food Prize headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa.
As a result of the Green Revolution, Norman E. Borlaug was awarded the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work amongst the world’s farmers. He had developed the “miracle” wheats which were the vanguard of the Green Revolution, and whose productivity saved an estimated one billion people from famine and starvation.
For the Centennial, September 17-20, 2007, current faculty, staff, and students were joined by hundreds of alumni and friends. Presentations were given on the history of the Department and on some of its more noteworthy 20th Century alumni.
Dr. Norman Borlaug was also honored by the state of Minnesota, which designated October 16th as Norman E. Borlaug Day.
Norman Borlaug would live only two more years, and die at age 94. He was active in international agriculture until his death. He had been the recipient of dozens of awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, and the National Medal of Science.
Norman Borlaug was an athlete and a collegiate wrestler at the University of Minnesota. He helped establish high school wrestling in the state and was elected a member of the collegiate National Wrestling Hall of Fame. In addition, Norman Borlaug, along with his scientific colleague John Neiderhauser, were credited with bringing Little League Baseball to Mexico.
The University of Minnesota and the world would honor Borlaug in many ways. It has established scholarships and other awards in his name. As a memorial, the University places Benjamin Victor’s bronze statue of Norman Borlaug near Borlaug Hall on the Saint Paul Campus. The statue is a replica of the one in the United States Capitol’s National Statuary Hall in Washington, DC.
Awards and honors
Besides Borlaug, and many others, there was one alumnus who deserved special mention due to his lasting impact on international agriculture and genetic preservation of crop plants: Dr. Bent Skovmand (BS, 1971; MS, 1973; PhD, 1976). Skovmand was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Dannebrog by the Queen of Denmark.
Sir Skovmand’s professional career was largely devoted to genetic preservation of varieties of crop plants and their wild relatives. He had worked with Norman Borlaug at the Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo (CIMMYT) in Mexico where he oversaw genetic preservation efforts for wheat and other cereals. Later, he directed the Nordic Genebank in Sweden where he helped establish the world’s Global Seed Vault (the so-called Doomsday Seed Vault) located in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago near the Arctic Circle. Many national and international collections of genetic material reside there as a backup in case of war, mismanagement, accident, equipment failures, funding cuts, and/or natural disasters.
Sir Skovmand died unexpectedly in February 2007 before he could deliver the keynote address at the Department’s Centennial. His life was memorialized by his biographer, Susan Dworkin in her award-winning biography entitled The Viking in the Wheat Field.
In 2011 Susan Dwokin gave a talk about Sir Skovmand at the Cargill Building of Microbial and Plant Genomics on the Saint Paul Campus. An ensuing discussion led to the production of a regional Emmy Award winning-PBS television documentary, Saving Wheat: Rusts Never Sleep.
During this 20-year period in the 21st century many faculty, staff, students and alumni received prestigious awards and honors. These were duly recorded, year by year, in the departmental news magazine the Aurora Sporealis.
Other updates
The Plant Disease Clinic
The importance of the Department’s Plant Disease Clinic (PDC) continued to grow. Formed in 1956 and located in Stakman Hall, it provides diagnoses for commercial growers, farmers, homeowners, and others. The PDC also serves metropolitan areas where plant health problems largely involve garden, urban forest and landscape plantings. The PDC is vital to the overall mission of the Department.
The Plant Pathology Library becomes Borlaug Commons
The Land O’Lakes Collaboration Center, also known as Borlaug Commons, is created in the former space of the Plant Pathology Library, whose books were relocated into Magrath Library. This collaboration space includes study and teamwork materials such as computers, a printer, multiple projection screens, and ample comfortable seating. Serving many uses ranging from a quiet-reading area for students between classes to a meeting space for department retreats and award ceremonies, the collaboration space is frequently used.
The COVID-19 pandemic greatly affects the world and the University
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, all classes in the University are moved online to protect the health and lives of students, faculty, and staff. Plant Pathology courses were taught online, and the Plant Pathology Seminar Series also goes online using Zoom video conferencing. As a result, human interactions and social activities, important to learning outside the classroom, were somewhat compromised. Even events like thesis defenses and addresses to graduates needed to be modified. For example, Deepak Haarith (a student of Professor Senyu Chen) successfully defended his PhD thesis online. He then gave an online portion of the 2020 commencement address for CFANS graduates.
The annual meeting of the American Phytopathological Society (APS) was held online. The Department was well represented and Dr. Mary Palm (MS 1979, PhD 1983, and a past President of APS, 2017) gave an update of APS’s outreach.
Despite the pandemic, the Department’s students continued to be educated, do research and be awarded their advanced degrees. During this 20-year period the Department awarded 48 Master’s of Science and 61 Doctoral degrees. Specific information for individuals graduating between 2001 and 2021 is available for this period.
Highlights Through the Years and Degrees Awarded: 2001-2021
Faculty in 2001. Dr. Janna Beckerman – Assistant Professor and Extension Educator. Dr. Robert Blanchette - Forest Pathology and Wood Deterioration. Dr. Senyu Chen – Soybean Pathology, SROC Waseca Research and Outreach Center. Dr. Ruth Dill-Macky – Diseases of small grains. Dr. James V. Groth – Ecological Genetics of Plant Pathogens. Dr. Roger Jones – Extension Plant Pathology – small grains, sugar beets. Dr. Philip Larsen – Associate Dean of Research, CFANS. Dr. Benham Lockhart – Plant Virology. Dr. Linda Kinkel – Epidemiology and microbial ecology. Dr. Sagar Krupa – Abiotic Diseases of Plants (Air Pollutants). Dr. James Kurle – Soybean diseases. Dr. David McDonald – Nematology. Dr. Richard Meronuck – Grain Deterioration -Extension. Dr. James Percich – Wild Rice & specialty crop pathology. Dr. Frank Pfleger – Department Head & Extension Plant Pathology. Dr. Robert Nyvall – Wild Rice Pathology, Extension Pathology, North Central ROC, Grand Rapids. Dr. Jon Powell – Assistant Professor, Turf grass diseases. Dr. Hala Toubia-Rahme – Plant Pathology Teaching and Small Grains Cropping Systems, Crookston Campus. Dr. Nevin Young – Molecular Genetics. Dr. Carol Windels – Sugar Beet Pathology, NWROC, Crookston. Dr. Richard Zeyen – Physiology of fungal disease resistance and Director – MAES Cooperative Electron Optics Facility. Dr. Sally Stetina – Assistant Professor SWROC Lamberton and Adjunct Faculty at Southwest State University (research in soybean diseases).
Adjunct Faculty. Dr. Susan Cohen, USDA - APHIS, pest risk assessment. Drs. William Bushnell, Corby Kistler, James Kolmer, Kurt Leonard, Donald McVey, Alan Roelfs and Les Szabo, USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory. Dr. Dean Herzfeld - Pesticide training program. Dr. Jennifer Juzwik – USDA Forest Service. Dr. Deborah Samac – USDA-ARS Plant Science Research Unit
2001
The E. C. Stakman Fellowship is started by Dr. Norman Borlaug with a $25,000 contribution, with a goal of $250,000.
The USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory (formerly the Cereal Rust Laboratory) expands its mandate to include research on Fusarium head blight of wheat and barley predominantly caused by the fungus Fusarium graminearum.
The Cereal Disease Laboratory experiences turnover. Research Leader Dr. Kurt Leonard retires, as does Dr. Donald McVey. Dr. Corby Kistler heads Fusarium research. In addition, research on the pathogen causing stem rust of wheat, Puccinia graminis, intensifies. This intensification is due to the threat from the Uganda 99 (Ug 99) race(s). Ug99 is virulent against wheat resistant genes. Wheat germplasm from throughout the world is tested for vulnerability and potential resistance.
In 1998, Cargill Incorporated (based in Minnetonka, Minnesota), the nation’s largest privately held corporation, pledged 10 million dollars toward building a Microbial and Plant Genomics Building on the Saint Paul Campus. Minnesota’s Legislature matched that 10 million, and a 20 million dollar building construction began in 2000 on Gortner Avenue across the street from Stakman and Hayes Halls.
Dr. Salliana Stetina joins our faculty and the faculty of Southwest State University in Marshall, Minnesota as an Assistant Professor. The position was an experimental split appointment. She did her research at the Southwest Research and Outreach Center in Lamberton, MN, and her teaching at nearby Southwest State University.
Dr. Jeff Miller, Assistant Professor of potato pathology, resigns to take a position at the University of Idaho’s Aberdeen Experiment Station.
After 30 years, and under the direction of Professor Richard Zeyen, the Cooperative Electron Optics Facility of the MAES is moved from the Christensen Laboratory Building to the Microscopy and Imaging Center inside “Biodale” in the remodeled Snyder Laboratory of Biochemistry.
2002
Dr. Martin Carson (PhD University of Illinois) becomes Research Leader at the USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory. He took over the Oat Crown Rust research in addition to administrative duties.
Professor Robert Nyvall retires. He was an Extension Plant Pathologist located at the North Central Research and Outreach Center, Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
Construction on the Cargill Building for Microbial and Plant Genomics building on Gortner Avenue across from Christensen Laboratory nears completion. This 64,000 sq. ft. building will be the anchor for plant and microbial genomics research on the Saint Paul Campus. Plant Pathology faculty will also be members of the Plant and Microbial Genomics Institute faculty.
Dr. Jon Powell, Assistant Professor of turfgrass diseases, resigns to take a position with Jackson Community College in Michigan.
Dr. Hala Toubia-Rahme, Assistant Professor and small grain pathologist at the Northwest Research and Outreach Center at Crookston, MN resigns. Dr. Charla Hollingsworth (PhD, University of Wyoming) replaces Dr. Toubia-Rahme.
2003
The 2003 Aurora Sporealis is dedicated to the Department’s Legacy; a brief history is written by Professor Richard J. Zeyen, and a future projection is written by Professor and Head, Frank Pfleger. This issue is a prelude to the Department’s Centennial to be held in 2007.
State of Minnesota budget shortfalls reach the $1.5 billion dollar level. State support for the University Budget is now at 26%. The Department loses key support staff; and other cuts affect research support in the Department.
Dr. Bent Skovmand (BS 1971, MS 1973, PhD 1976) is awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Dannebrog by Princess Benedikte of Denmark in a ceremony at the Danish Embassy in Mexico City. Sir Skovmand received this knighthood for his lifelong achievements in wheat research and the conservation of wheat genetic resources.
Construction begins on an 18-million-dollar greenhouse building project. The project includes a modern head house and much needed teaching laboratories for Plant Pathology, Agronomy and Plant Genetics, and Horticulture Departments.
Dr. Yue Jin (PhD, North Dakota State University) joins the Cereal Rust Laboratory (CRL). He is an expert on cereal rusts, both stem rust of wheat. Puccinia graminis f.sp. tritici, and leaf rust of wheat (Puccinia triticina). Dr. Kolmer’s research on the leaf rust pathogen gains new depth with the use of new wheat genomic resources and molecular genetics techniques for finding variation in linked genes controlling avirulence/virulence in the fungal pathogen P. triticina.
Dr. William R. Bushnell, plant physiologist/pathologist, retires from the CRL.
Professor Roger Jones, Extension Plant Pathologist, retires. Roger was worked in extension with sugar beets and small-grained cereal crops.
Assistant Professor Salliana Stetina resigns to take a position with the USDA in Stoneville, Mississippi.
2004
Dr. Frank Pfleger retires, and Dr. Carol Ishimaru (PhD, Michigan State University) becomes the first woman to serve as Head of Plant Pathology. Dr. Ishimaru also joins the faculty of the Microbial and Plant Genomics Institute.
Dr. Norman Borlaug (BS 1936, MS 1941, PhD 1942), the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, celebrated his 90th birthday by giving a commencement address to CFANS graduates as well as appearing on Minnesota Public Television’s program Almanac. He was also introduced at the opening session of the Minnesota State Legislature and attended the dedication of the stained-glass World Peace Window in St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis, where his likeness appears with several of the world’s most famous peacemakers.
After the farm crisis of the 1980s and 1990s, CFANS’s undergraduate enrollment dropped dramatically; however, since 2000 enrollment has increased, and the Department offers new courses in response. Despite this fact, the College continues to downsize faculty and staff.
The new glasshouses and teaching laboratories are now completed, adding improved space for teaching. The entire project cost was 18 million dollars.
Professor James V. Groth, whose expertise is in ecological and population genetics, retires. Professor Groth had been the Director of the Plant Health Technology undergraduate major in the Department. In his honor, Mayor Randy Kelly of St. Paul declared the 12 of May, 2004 to be “Professor James V. Groth Day” in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Sir Bent Skovmand (BS 1971, MS 1973, PhD 1976) became the Director of the Nordic Genebank in Alnarp, Sweden. He assists in development of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault on the Norwegian Island of Spitsbergen near the Arctic Circle (the so-called Doomsday Vault).
Professor Isaac Wahl of the University of Tel Aviv in Israel, a great friend of the Department’s, passes away in Tel Aviv. Wahl Israel was instrumental in forming the Lieberman-Okinow Chair in the Department of Plant Pathology at Minnesota. It formed a linkage between the two institutions relative to using the wild progenitors of wheat, oat, and barley for sources of disease resistance.
Professor Nevin D. Young is named a Distinguished McKnight Professor of the University of Minnesota.
2005
Dr. Dean Malvick (PhD 1997) departed the University of Illinois and joined our faculty as an Assistant Professor in Extension with a responsibility for row crop diseases.
Dr. Janna Beckerman, an Extension Pathologist, leaves to join the faculty of Purdue University, where she will be responsible for diseases of ornamentals and small/tree fruits.
The potential for soybean rust, an imported pathogen, to enter Minnesota helps garner support for adding a bio-containment level 3 complex to accommodate research with exotic and newly emerging plant pathogens. The USDA, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Minnesota’s Soybean Growers Association and several other organizations support this facility which was built on the St. Paul Campus near the USDA Cereal Disease Laboratory complex.
2006
The 4.8-million-dollar Plant Pathology Biosafety Level 3 Laboratory and glass house on the Saint Paul Campus is completed. It is the culmination of years of collaboration between the Department, the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association. It allows preemptive research and/or readiness for new and emerging plant pathogens that would otherwise be prohibited in Minnesota by quarantine laws and regulations.
The USDA Cereal Disease Laboratory’s (CDL) expansion into its newly built facilities is completed. The laboratory’s space more than doubles, as do glasshouse facilities. The CDL has a staff of approximately 30.
The Department’s Plant Disease Clinic processed over 2,000 samples. Amy Holm reported that they began to use Polymerase Chain Reaction assays (PCR) to assist with detection and diagnosis of certain pathogens and plant diseases.
March 25th of each year in Minnesota is declared Norman Borlaug Day in honor of the Department’s most famous alum. Then on July 17th, President George W. Bush presented Norman Borlaug with our nation’s highest honor, the Congressional Gold Medal in a ceremony in Washington D.C.
The Department is now officially in the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS). CFANS is largely a merger of the Colleges of Agriculture and Forestry.
In 2006 only five people in the world had ever been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. They were Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Elie Wiesel . . . and the Department’s alum, Dr. Norman E. Borlaug!
The Aurora Sporealis, published continuously since 1924, is finally indexed. Susan Tertell and Carol Van Why, former Minneapolis Public Librarians, volunteered to index all 72 volumes through 2005. The Aurora Index is then put online as are all volumes of the Aurora Sporealis.
Soybean rust appears in 15, mostly southern states. It came up from Brazil into the United States. Minnesota was unaffected, but preliminary resistance breeding to soybean rust was started.
2007 - The Department’s 100th Birthday Celebration
Happy 100th Birthday. A four-day Centennial Celebration was held on the Saint Paul Campus from September 18-20. The Aurora Sporealis for 2007 documents this celebration in detail.
On September 19th a full day was devoted to the history and current activities within the Department. A morning session was devoted to presentations by Richard Zeyen, Eugene Hayden and Guy Baird. Zeyen presented a history of the Department from 1907 to 2007. Hayden and Baird covered the history of Departmental alumni in public/private sector efforts that brought about the Green Revolution of the 20th Century. Hayden spoke about the little known but highly influential Donald Fletcher of the Crop Quality Council. Baird spoke about the Department’s highly visible and influential alum George “Dutch” Harrar of the Rockefeller Foundation.
The afternoon session was devoted to research programs in the modern Department:
- Plant Pathology in the 21st Century: Steffenson
- Continuing the Legacy: Ishimaru
- New Tools to Battle Ancient Enemies of Cereal: Steffenson, Olivera and Dill-Macky
- Microbial Ecology: What Lies Beneath the Prairie?: Kinkel
- Global Impact of Research and Education: Samac
- Addressing Today’s Plant Disease Challenges: Malvick
- Advances in Understanding and Using Plant Disease Resistance: Young and Bradeen
- The Indiana Jones’s Guide to Wood-Rotting Fungi: Extreme Environments and Fantastic Adventures: Robert Blanchette
Governor Tim Pawlenty declares September 19, 2007, Plant Pathology Day in the State of Minnesota.
The Honorable Timothy J. Walz of the US House of Representatives and future governor of Minnesota issues: a Tribute to the 100th Anniversary of the University of Minnesota’s Department of Plant Pathology and is entered into the Congressional Record. Mr. Walz, a former Mankato West High School teacher will become the Governor of Minnesota in 2018. The iconic Professor E. C. Stakman also taught at that same institution in 1904.
A DVD of Norman Borlaug’s Recollections of Plant Pathology at Minnesota, a conversation with Richard Zeyen (2006), is produced for the Centennial Celebration. Norman Borlaug, a farm boy from Iowa, describes how he ended up at the University of Minnesota and in the Department of Plant Pathology.
Dinner and program: A Tribute to Norman Borlaug: Future Challenges by Dr. Robert Herdt, Rockefeller Foundation Economist and Adjunct Professor at Cornell University.
100 Years of Graduate Degrees: The Department awarded 429 PhD degrees and 424 MS degrees during its first 100 years of existence.
2008
The Centennial for the American Phytopathological Society is held in Minneapolis
In 2008 the American Phytopathological Society (APS) celebrated its Centennial Anniversary at the Minneapolis Civic Center. There were approximately 4,000 attendees. The Department at the University of Minnesota has the only repository of photographs of all APS presidents since 1909. They are removed from the corridor wall of the 4th floor of Stakman Hall, digitized and the images presented to the APS for its online archives.
Professors Sagar Krupa, David MacDonald, and Richard Zeyen retire.
Assistant Professor Dirk Hofffmeister resigned to take a position at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany.
Associate Professor Charla Hollingsworth resigns and joins the USDA APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) as National Science Program Leader for Plant Pathology and Weeds at the Center for Plant Health Science and Technology in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Professor & Head Carol Ishimaru is elected to serve as the President of the American Phytopathological Society (APS).
Dr. Martin Carson (CDL) becomes a Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society, and Dr. Yue Jin is honored by the USDA. Many other faculty and students also won awards during 2008-2009. These are recorded in the 2009 Aurora.
Research Funding
The Department now has 29 Graduate Students.
A unique plant pathology isolation facility is certified for use
The newly constructed, multimillion dollar Plant Pathogen Growth Facility (BSL3) is fully commissioned and certified for use.
No Aurora Sporealis was published in 2008.
2009
Borlaug’s Official Biographer Visits The Department
In June, Dr. Leon Hesser - Norman Borlaug’s official biographer, comes to the Department. He reviews his book, The Man Who Fed The World. Dr. Borlaug flies up from his home in Texas to be with his friend Hesser. Dr. Carol Ishimaru, Professor and Head of Plant Pathology introduces Hesser.
The Department’s Most Famous Alum Passes
On September 12th Dr. Norman Borlaug, the Department’s most famous and visible alum, died at age 95 at his home in Texas.
Tributes to Norman Borlaug are written in the Aurora Sporealis
The 2009 Aurora Sporealis is now issued in digital format for the first time. Professor Deborah Samac is the Editor-in-Chief. The Aurora features two articles on the Department’s most famous alum, Dr. Norman Borlaug. The first tribute is written by Professor Emeritus Richard Zeyen, and the second by Professor Brian Steffenson and Adjunct Professor Yue Jin.
2010 & 2011
The Department feels a budget crunch.
Minnesota receives national attention as its Legislature fails to deliver a balanced budget needed to overcome a 5-billion-dollar deficit. The results are more budget cuts to the University on top of decreases that occurred during the previous decade. The MN Legislature now supplies only 17% of the University’s total funding.
A Posthumous Award. The iconic Professor Elvin C. Stakman, who passed away in 1979, is posthumously inducted into the Minnesota Science and Technology Hall of Fame on November 3rd, 2011.
Professor James Percich retires after more than 30 years of service.
Dr. Kabir Peay, a mycologist, joined the faculty in August of 2011.
The Department advertises an Extension faculty position on small grains and canola. The position is to be located on the Crookston campus of the University.
In 2010 Susan Dworkin, author of Sir Bent Skovmand’s (BS 1971, MS 1973, PhD 1976) biography The Viking in the Wheat Field, visited the Department during a book tour. Dworkin gives a lecture in the Cargill Building, and it is streamed for television. Producers at Twin Cities Public Television show interest.
The University of Minnesota’s Digital Conservancy Director Elisabeth Kaplan and Professor Emeritus Richard Zeyen publish an article in the Journal of Agricultural & Food Information entitled “The Green Revolution Digitization Project at the University Minnesota: A Collaborative Model of Support for Preservation and Access.” The collection documents Minnesota’s role in the Green Revolution. The University Archives has the papers of Norman E. Borlaug, Elvin C. Stakman, John Niederhauser, Edward M. Freeman, H.K. Hayes, Helen Hart, Jonas Christensen and Clyde Christensen. In addition, it has the administrative records and photographs from the Department of Plant Pathology from 1907 through 2011 and similar materials from the USDA-ARS Cereal Rust Laboratory which was formed in 1918 and still exists.
The Department enters an agreement with Twin Cities Public Television to produce a documentary entitled Saving Wheat: Rusts Never Sleep. This television documentary was shown as a “sneak preview” during the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative Workshop held on the St. Paul Campus on June 13, 2011. It was then televised through Twin Cities Public Television and released for use by national Public Television.
The Stakman/Borlaug Center for Sustainable Plant Health. This is the first center created within the Department of Plant Pathology. It was formed by Professors Ishimaru and Steffenson along with Professor Emeritus Richard Zeyen and alumnus Dr. Eugene Hayden. The SBC facilitated multi-disciplinary collaborations between UMN researchers to forward sustainable plant health research, education, and outreach activities that have global impacts. To ensure a food-secure future by creating sustainable and interdisciplinary research-, outreach-, and education-based solutions to complex plant health problems that threaten global crop production.
Dr. Matt Rouse (PhD University of MN, 2010) joins the Cereal Disease Laboratory.
2012
No Aurora is published
2013
Many recognitions, upgrades and changes occurred in 2012 and 2013; all these and research efforts by faculty are featured in the 2013 edition of the Aurora Sporealis.
In 2012, two members of the Department received regional Emmy Awards for their contributions to the Public Television Documentary Saving Wheat: Rusts Never Sleep: Professor and Head Carol Ishimaru and Professor Emeritus Richard J. Zeyen (Historical Consultant).
Professor Carol Windels (Sugar Beet Pathology), stationed at the Northwest Research and Outreach Center at Crookston and former APS president, retires.
Adjunct Professor Martin Carson, Research Leader at the CDL, retires and Dr. Shahryar Kianian joins the CDL as Research Leader.
Dr. Yue Jin of the CDL is promoted to Adjunct Professor in the Department and is awarded the prestigious Siehl Prize for Excellence in Agriculture by the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Kabir Peay, Assistant Professor of Fungal Biology, resigns to take a position at Stanford University.
After many years of struggling to maintain viability, the Department was allowed to fill 4 positions shown below:
Dr. Madeline Smith joined the Department as an Assistant Professor in Small Grains Extension. She was located at the Northwest Research and Outreach Center in Crookston, Minnesota.
Dr. Melania Figueroa became the new Assistant Professor of Fungal Biology.
Dr. Scott Bates was appointed Assistant Professor of Fungal Biology in the Department and Curator of the Lichen and Fungal Collections in the Bell Museum of Natural History. The “Bell” has been moved from the Minneapolis Campus into a new building on the St. Paul Campus of the University.
Dr. Angela Orshinsky was appointed as an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist, serving the horticultural and landscape industries.
Dr. Yanhong Dong, hired as Research Associate in March 2002, promoted to Research Assistant Professor in June 2013.
A $875,000 renovation of Borlaug Hall includes the autoclave and media preparation laboratory. In addition, a new elevator is installed in the east end of Stakman Hall and terminates in the old Seminar/Teaching room 403 to meet ADA compliance. Now that room has a kitchenette and becomes a conference/teaching/lunchroom, the Legacy Lounge.
Dr. Rick Ward arrives as a visiting scientist from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) located in Mexico. He’s been involved in building many national and international programs in the United States and around the world. He will be stationed in Minnesota for several years.
In 2013 Professor and Head Carol Ishimaru, after battling breast cancer, stepped down as Department Head. She remained as the Department’s bacteriologist.
Professor James Bradeen was appointed as the 11th Head of the Department of Plant Pathology.
2014
The Department puts on an event, The CFANS International Agricultural Showcase: What is Plant Pathology Doing for International Agriculture.
The Department broadened the mission of the 2010 Stakman/Borlaug Rust Center. It now becomes the Stakman-Borlaug Center for Sustainable Plant Health. Ms. Karen Hokanson becomes its Managing Director.
Dr. Ashok Chanda is hired as an extension specialist with a focus on diseases of sugar beets at the Northwest Research and Outreach Center in Crookston, Minnesota.
Dr. Brett Arenz is appointed as a Teaching Assistant Professor and Director of the Department’s Plant Disease Clinic.
Dr. Loretta Ortiz-Ribbing is appointed Adjunct Assistant Professor. She is a research scientist with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture in St. Paul.
Professor Alan Collmer, from Cornell University, is the 2014 recipient of the Department’s E. C. Stakman Award.
Mr. Victor replicates that bronze statue for the University of Minnesota. It will be located on the Saint Paul Campus in the garden across the street from Borlaug Hall.
Former faculty member Professor Sagar V. Krupa passes away.
Mr. Mark Stennes (MS, 1981), a private sector plant pathologist, and friend of the Department, passes away.
Gerald Ochocki, a long-time ARS Technician, passes away.
2014
The 2014 issue of the Aurora Sporealis is especially informative. Professor Brian Steffenson acts as the Editor-in-Chief. The research programs of many faculty are featured along with updates on several Departmental efforts.
2015
Professor Carol Ishimaru is named a Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society.
Dr. Brett Arenz develops Plant Pathology’s first completely online undergraduate course: Plague, Famine, and Beer. This course (Pl. Pa. 2003) teaches students about how microbes have impacted human health (plagues), food security (famine) and happiness (beer).
The rise in microbreweries in Minnesota and the US continues, as do problems with growing local hops for this industry. Powdery mildew of hops becomes a real problem.
The 2015 Aurora Sporealis focuses almost entirely on current research programs, people, and their achievements.
2016
The 2016 Aurora features two faculty members stationed at the Northwest Research and Outreach Center at Crookston, MN in the Red River Valley.
Cory Hirsch is hired as an Assistant Professor.
Professor Brian Steffenson, The Department’s Lieberman-Okinow Endowed Professor, takes a group of University of Minnesota graduate students to Israel to learn firsthand about wild relatives of cereal crop plants and the fragility of their habitats.
The Land O’Lakes Collaboration Center, also known as Borlaug Commons, is created in the former space of the Plant Pathology Library, whose books were relocated into Magrath Library. This collaboration space includes study and teamwork materials such as computers, a printer, multiple projection screens, and ample comfortable seating. Serving many uses ranging from a quiet-reading area for students between classes to a meeting space for department retreats and award ceremonies, the collaboration space is frequently used.
2017
Members of the Department have projects in 48 countries and on all 7 continents. In addition, there are graduate students from 8 different countries on 5 continents.
Adjunct Associate Professor Jennifer Juzwik (USDA Forest Service) and graduate student Kat Sweeney join with researchers on the Big Island of Hawaii to investigate Rapid Ohia Death, a disease of Hawaii’s iconic ʻōhiʻa lehua trees.
Professor Robert Blanchette and graduate student Eric Otto are featured in the Aurora Sporealis for their work with Heterobasidion root disease of red and white pine. Also featured is Professor Senyu Chen’s research on soybean cyst nematode. Professor Chen is stationed at the Southern Research and Outreach Center in Waseca, Minnesota.
2018
This year saw the launch of a plant pathology podcast, Breaking Protocol, and a CFANS High Throughput Plant Phenotyping Initiative connected with the Department’s Stakman-Borlaug Center for Sustainable Plant Health.
Professor Carol Ishimaru is named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Departmental alumna Dr. Kira Bowen replaced fellow alumna Dr. Mary Palm as President of the American Phytopathological Society.
Professor Adam Bogdanove from Cornell University was awarded the Department’s highest honor, the E. C. Stakman Award.
Retired Professor Howard Bissonnette passes away, as did a popular former staff scientist Alan Pierce.
The Stakman-Borlaug Center launched a Global Agriculture Seminar Series and conducted reviews of USDA-FAS projects in Guatemala, Benin, and Sri Lanka.
2019
Members of the Stakman-Borlaug Center for Sustainable Plant Health completed their two-year Food for Progress Program review for determining the impact of three completed projects; one in Benin (West Africa), the second in the highlands of Guatemala, and the third in Sri Lanka.
Dr. Brett Arenz, Director of the Plant Disease Clinic in Stakman Hall, reported that the summer’s heavy rainfall made for brisk business. Foliar diseases of trees like oak along with the ongoing Oak Wilt Disease epidemic were of concern. A very cold, dry winter contributed to some rather odd symptoms in certain tree species whose roots may have been damaged by freeze drying.
Dr. Yanhong Dong of the Mycotoxin Diagnostic Laboratory is promoted to Research Associate Professor.
2020
The Plant Pathology Seminar Series goes online using Zoom. Recordings of these seminars are online for all to access and review.
Deepak Haarith (a student of Professor Senyu Chen) is the first to successfully defend his PhD thesis online. He then gives an online portion of the 2020 commencement address for CFANS.
The annual meeting of the American Phytopathological Society (APS) is held online. The Department was well represented. Dr. Mary Palm (MS 1979, PhD 1983), past President of APS (2017), presented an update of APS’s outreach and educational efforts during the United Nations International Year of Plant Health. Dr. Dimitre Mollov (PhD 2012) USDA-ARS at Beltsville, MD, headed the Schoth Faces of the Future Symposium on plant virology at the APS meeting. Professor Linda Kinkel’s group organized a timely “Idea Cafe” entitled “Virtual Scientific Conferences.” Dr. Rubella Goswami (PhD 2005) and USDA APHIS led a special “Hot Topic” on revised USDA biotechnology regulations. Dr. Kira Bowen (MS 1983 and 2018 APS President), led an APS Council session entitled: Faces of the APS.
Dr. Devanshi Khokhani was appointed an Assistant Professor in the Department. She replaces Professor and former Head, Carol Ishimaru. Dr. Khokhani is an expert in plant bacteriology.
On December 19th the Department and CFANS celebrated the 50th anniversary of Dr. Norman Borlaug’s 1970 Nobel Peace Prize. There was an online conference entitled Nobel and Beyond: Building on the Legacy of a Hunger Fighter.
2021
Megan McCaghey is hired as an Assistant Professor.
Dr. Mitch Elmore (PhD University of California-Davis) joins the Cereal Disease Laboratory. He is a molecular geneticist working with the Head Blight pathogen Fusarium graminearum and its interactions with cereals.
The Plant Disease Clinic as well as other clinics and public service laboratories remain open, but with radical changes in operations. Thus, essential diagnostic services were delivered for Minnesota and nationally, despite the pandemic.
Dr. Ashish Ranjan (PhD, Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India) joined the faculty. He will be working with soybean diseases as well as teaching in the Plant-Microbe Interactions course.
Professor Emeritus David MacDonald passes away.
State Supported and Adjunct Faculty in 2021
Dr. Brett Arenz - Associate teaching professor and Plant Disease Clinic Director. Dr. Robert Blanchette - Forest Pathology and Wood Deterioration. Dr. James Bradeen - Department Head. Dr. Ashok Chanda - Sugarbeet research, Crookston. Dr. Senyu Chen – Soybean Pathology, SROC Waseca Research and Outreach Center. Dr. Ruth Dill-Macky – Diseases of small grains. Dr. Yanhong Dong - Mycotoxicology. Dr. Cory Hirsch - Genetic controls for plant diseases. Dr. Linda Kinkel – Epidemiology and microbial ecology. Dr. Devanshi Khokhani - Bacterial/Plant Interactions. Dr. James Kurle – Soybean diseases. Dr. Dean Malvick - Extension. Dr. Megan McCaghey - Soilborne diseases of plants. Dr. Pablo Olivera Firpo - Wheat Stem Rust control. Dr. Ashish Ranjan - Plant Microbe Interactions and soilborne fungi. Dr. Brian Steffenson - Lieberman-Okinow Endowed Chair of Cereal Disease Resistance. Dr. Nevin Young – Molecular Genetics and Distinguished McKnight Professor.
Adjunct Faculty. Drs. Mitch Elmore, Corby Kistler, James Kolmer, Yue Jin, Shahryar Kianian, Matt Rouse and Les Szabo, USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory. Dr. Jennifer Juzwik – USDA Forest Service Dr. Deborah Samac – USDA-ARS Alfalfa Project. Dr. Jonathan Schilling - Forest products deterioration. Dr. Daniel Schlatter - Agricultural microbiomes. Dr. Senait Senay - Invasive species and biosecurity.
See all graduates from this era.