June 13, 2006
State FFA to honor SIUC's Dexter Wakefield
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Dexter B. Wakefield, assistant professor in the College of Agricultural Science's plant, soil and agricultural systems department at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, will receive the Illinois Association FFA's highest honor Wednesday, June 14, during the group's annual convention in Springfield.
The association, founded in 1929, awards its honorary state degree to those who have served the FFA in outstanding ways, helping advance agricultural education.
Wakefield, who came to SIUC in 2001, teaches education-related courses in both the agriculture college and the College of Education and Human Services. Those include graduate courses on program and professional development and special projects in agricultural education.
A Georgia native, Wakefield earned his undergraduate degree in 1990 from Fort Valley State University in Fort Valley, Ga. He earned both master's and doctoral degrees in 1998 and 2001 respectively from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.
Celebrating faculty excellence is among the goals of Southern at 150: Building Excellence Through Commitment, the blueprint the University is following as it approaches its 150th anniversary in 2019.