Agricultural Sciences

Agricultural Societies Re-Elect Two Penn State Trustees

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Agricultural society delegates from throughout Pennsylvania recently re-elected two members to Penn State's Board of Trustees.

Representatives of local Grange chapters, farm bureaus, county fair boards and other county-based organizations returned former state Agriculture Secretary Boyd E. Wolff of Dauphin County and Sen. Roger A. Madigan of Bradford County to the university's governing board for three-year terms that begin July 1 and end in 2001.

Agricultural societies elect six members of Penn State's 32-member Board of Trustees for staggered three-year terms. Other current trustees elected by agricultural delegates, with term expirations in parentheses, are Gordon L. Hiller (1999), former master, Pennsylvania State Grange; David A. Morrow (1999), consulting veterinarian and owner-manager, Arch Spring Farm; Carl T. Shaffer (2000), vice president, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau; and Obie Snider (2000), managing partner, Singing Brook Farms.

Wolff received his bachelor's degree in dairy husbandry from Penn State in 1953. For the next 33 years, he owned and operated Wolfden Farm, a 410-acre dairy farm in Westmoreland County. He served as Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture from January 1987 to January 1995.

Wolff has been active in various agricultural, community, religious and political organizations. In recognition of his many leadership and service activities, he has received numerous awards from agricultural organizations throughout Pennsylvania. He was named a Distinguished Alumnus by Penn State's Department of Dairy and Animal Science in 1988, was inducted into Gamma Sigma Delta in 1989, and received the Friend of Extension Award from Epsilon Sigma Phi in 1994. In 1995, the National FFA organization awarded Wolff the Honorary American Farmer Degree.

Wolff has held office in the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, the Northeastern State Departments of Agriculture, and the Eastern United States Food and Export Council. He was appointed to the Pennsylvania Ethics Commission in 1995 and has served as a VOCA volunteer in Venezuela and Russia.

Elected to the Board of Trustees by the delegates from agricultural societies in May 1984, Wolff served as an ex officio trustee while Secretary of Agriculture from 1987 to 1995. He was elected again by the delegates from agricultural societies in May 1995.

Madigan, who earned his bachelor's degree in dairy production from Penn State in 1951, was a dairyman from 1951 to 1964 and currently operates a 260-acre crop and certified tree farm near Towanda. He served as state representative in the General Assembly from the 110th District from 1977 to 1984, when he was elected to the state Senate representing the 23rd District.

Madigan is chairman of the Joint State Government Commission, as well as the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee. He is vice chairman of the Senate Game and Fisheries Committee and a member of the Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Appropriations, and Labor and Industries committees. He also is a member of the Joint Legislative Air and Water Pollution Control and Conservation Committee.

Madigan has won numerous awards and has been honored as "Legislator of the Year" by several trade and professional associations. In 1995, he was named a Distinguished Alumnus by Penn State's Department of Dairy and Animal Science.

Madigan is a trustee of the Guthrie Medical Center in Sayre and a member of The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center Board of Visitors. In May 1998, he was elected by Penn State's Board of Trustees as a director of the Agricultural Law Resource and Reference Center of the Dickinson School of Law. He also serves on the Board of Directors of The Pennsylvania College of Technology and is a director of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association.

In 1979, Madigan was appointed to serve on the Board of Trustees to fill an unexpired term ending in 1980. He was elected by the delegates from agricultural societies in 1980 and has been re-elected for succeeding terms.

###

EDITORS: For more information, contact Patricia Heuser at 814-863-9646.

Contacts: Chuck Gill cdg5@psu.edu 814-863-2713 814-865-1068 fax

Last Updated March 19, 2009