John Deere Foundation President, Don Margenthaler, NAAE Distinguished Service Award Recipient

At the 2000 NAAE Convention, Donald R. Margenthaler was recognized as the 1999-2000 NAAE Distinguished Service Award Recipient. Mr. Margenthaler is president of the John Deere Foundation, which is the corporate giving entity of Deere & Company located in Moline, Illinois.

Mr. Margenthaler has been associated with Deere & Company for over 37 years. He has served in a variety of positions, ranging from foreman to president of the John Deere Foundation. In addition to his responsibilities with John Deere, he is active in many local, regional and national organizations such as the Corporate Associates, United Way of America, of which he is a past chairman and past member of the Illinois Humanities Council Alumni. He is presently a member of the American Red Cross Advisory Board, Southern Illinois University Advisory Council and Quad City Arts, of which he has served as president. He is also very active in local and regional human services activities.

Prior to his present responsibilities, he helped develop the John Deere Health Care subsidiary and during that same time period he participated on the board of the Midwest Business Group on Health and served on a special national task force on health care matters sponsored by the National Association of Health Organizations. He also served as director of Community Relations for Deere & Company.

Under Mr. Margenthaler’s leadership, John Deere has been and continues to be a major supporter of agricultural education. Since 1980, John Deere has sponsored the NAAE Outstanding Young Member award program. Each year at the NAAE convention, Mr. Margenthaler expresses his delight in meeting the new "class" of NAAE Outstanding Young Members. Dozens of young agriculture teachers who are just becoming well established in their careers have benefited from the support provided by Mr. Margenthaler and John Deere.

NAAE President Mike Cox (left) presented the NAAE Distinguished Service Award to Don Margenthaler, John Deere.

John Deere is also a major sponsor of the National FFA Organization, the Postsecondary Agricultural Student Organization and the National Young Farmer Education Association. Mr. Margenthaler was instrumental in the development of FFA’s I Believe in the Future capital campaign, to which John Deere committed $375,000.

This is the third year of the NAAE Distinguished Service Award. Mr. Margenthaler joins the previous recipients who are former United States Senator Dirk Kempthorne (currently Governor of Idaho), John McGee, Senator Kempthorne’s agriculture legislative assistant, and Dr. I. Miley Gonzalez, former Under Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education and Economics, United States Department of Agriculture.

Greetings from The Council. I enjoyed the opportunity to meet with those of you who attended the NAAE Convention in San Diego. I would like to personally commend the NAAE board, staff, executive director, and sponsors for their efforts in providing such a positive professional growth experience for teachers.

I would like to congratulate the ten individuals whose names were selected to receive a free curriculum material from The Council. These individuals, and many others, visited the TEAM-AG ED booth and entered a drawing while attending the Partnership EXPO held at the recent NAAE convention. These individuals include: Kathy Holmes, OR; Kristine Spath, NE; Nancy Leon, MN; Gwyne Ellis, FL; Rusty Black, MO; Willie Gholston, AL; Harold Eckler, MO; Dennis Deaton, AL; Donis Smead, AR; and Jack DeShazo, TX.

This spring The Council and NAAE will be releasing new teaching materials entitled, Landscape, Lawn Care, and Golf Course Management. Included in these materials will be numerous lessons and activities related to establishment and maintenance of various types of turf grasses. Lessons will cover the various recreational uses of turf mentioned in the title, as well as lessons that address the intensely managed turf found on athletic fields.

These materials will be delivered through The Council’s Professional Growth Series. The anticipated delivery date for these new materials will be May 1, 2001. Trainers are being identified in each participating state and our national "Train the Trainer" workshop is scheduled for February 2001, in Dallas, TX. For information on this or other Council instructional materials, please contact Mark Leitman at mleitman@teamaged.org or call (800) 772-0939, ext. 4296. A list of "turfgrass" trainers in your state will be included in the next issue of News & Views.

NAAE members enjoyed great keynote speakers at the San Diego convention.

Dr. Charles W. Byers (top), Professor of Agricultural Education at the University of Kentucky presented his 17 Principles to Motivate Students.

Dr. Brooks P. Coleman, Georgia State Representative, encouraged participants to become the heros and sheros to bring about positive change in the world in which we live.

Dr. Coleman’s participation at the convention was sponsored by Applied Technologies in Calhoun, Georgia and Horticopia in Purcellville, Virginia. Both sponsors are NAAE Organizational Members. Check them out at www.naae.org.