Chancellor emeritus receives lifetime achievement award from Auburn University Alumni Association

March 15, 2006

AUBURN, Ala. — E.T. York, chancellor emeritus of the State University System of Florida, has been honored with the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Auburn Alumni Association at Auburn University in Alabama.

The award, which is the highest honor presented by the alumni association, recognizes York for outstanding achievements and service to the university. It was presented to him by William Muse, former president of Auburn University, during March 4 ceremonies in Auburn.

Muse said York’s service over the past 50 years has strengthened the land-grant university system and its role in domestic and international agricultural development. “He is widely recognized as a leader in agriculture as a scientist, educator and administrator,” Muse said.

York and his wife, Vam, also an Auburn graduate, endowed a series of lectureships at Auburn in 1981, bringing internationally known experts to the Alabama campus. In 1985, York established a similar distinguished lecturer series at the University of Florida.

A native of Valley Head in northeast Alabama, York earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Auburn University before completing his doctoral degree at Cornell University.

After serving on the faculty at North Carolina State University and with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C., York was named director of the Alabama Extension Service in 1959, becoming its youngest director.

He was appointed provost for agriculture at the University of Florida in 1963. A year later, he organized UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, bringing under one administrative umbrella the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Florida Agricultural Experiment Station and Florida Cooperative Extension Service.

In addition to serving as provost for agriculture, vice president for agricultural affairs, executive vice president and interim president at UF, York was chancellor of the State University System from 1975 to 1980.

In 1997, the Museum of Florida History named York a Great Floridian, an honor which, at that time, had been bestowed on 11 other individuals who have made notable contributions to shaping the state of Florida.

York also served as an adviser to Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan. In that capacity, he traveled widely to provide agricultural assistance in countries throughout Latin America, Asia and Africa. His analysis of the agricultural development challenges faced by the countries of Central America and the Caribbean was a precursor to the Caribbean Basin Initiative.

York continues to focus on alleviating world hunger, particularly on expanding food production to meet rapidly growing needs, making food safer and more accessible, and increasing production efficiency to lower food costs. He has received many national and international honors with seven awards or programs established in his name.

York was honored in January 2003 by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture in Washington, D.C. IICA recognized him for his role in promoting rural prosperity in the Americas.

In December 2003, he received an honorary Doctor of Sciences degree from North Carolina State University. He also has received honorary doctorates from Auburn University, University of Florida and Ohio State University.

In 2004, York received the Service to American and World Agriculture Award from the National Association of County Agricultural Agents.