Barbara Knuth wins Gerald H. Cross Alumni Leadership Award
Jerry Cross, Head of the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation from 1976-1989, emphasized leadership training in his professional activities. Shortly after his retirement, he endowed a fund to recognize achievement in leadership among alumni of our department. To promote future leadership, honorees visit the department, deliver a seminar on leadership philosophy and practice, and interact with faculty, staff and students.
Dr. Barbara Knuth is the recipient of the 2007 Cross Alumni Leadership Award. Dr. Knuth holds Bachelor's degrees, cum laude, in Zoology and Environmental Studies and an M.S. in Environmental Science, all from Miami University of Ohio. She earned her Ph.D. in Fish and Wildlife Sciences at Virginia Tech in 1986, where she studied under Larry Nielsen. Her dissertation research produced a fisheries and wildlife resources indicator system for use in natural resources management. While at Tech, Barbara won an A.B. Massey Award and a Gamma Sigma Delta Graduate Dissertation Award.
Dr. Knuth has been a faculty member at Cornell University since 1986. She has achieved an impressive record of publications, grants, and students mentored. Among leadership roles that she has taken, she was Chair of the Department of Natural Resources from 2002-2007, and is now the Senior Associate Dean for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Among her many distinctions, she was a Kellogg Fellow in Food and Agricultural Policy and is a former President of American Fisheries Society. She has won the Constance and Alice Cook Recognition Award from the Cornell Committee on the Status of Women, three teaching awards, and the Distinguished Service Award from the American Fisheries Society.
Dr. Knuth visited the department, delivered her seminar, and received her award on October 12. In the picture, Dr. Knuth shows the award plaque with Jerry and Beth Cross.