This fund was established in 2024 through the generosity of Doug and Anne Jardine, to support professional development of graduate students by facilitating their attendance at APS annual meetings. Ideally, the recipient's work would embody one or more of the following: (i) a clear connection to Cooperative Extension, (ii) near-term application to the management of plant diseases, and (iii) involve work with commercial growers.
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Douglas J. (Doug) Jardine was born in Rantoul, IL, but raised in Warren, MI. Doug’s interest in agriculture began when he spent the summers of his youth on his grandparents’ vegetable farm in Richmond, MI. He was always impressed with the respect given to the county agriculture agent when he stopped by on business. He thought that might make a suitable career. Doug graduated from Michigan State University’s (MSU) Horticulture Department with a B.S (Vegetable Crops) and M.S. (Post-harvest Physiology) in 1976 and 1977, respectively. Doug’s first job was with MSU’s Cooperative Extension Service as a county 4-H agent in Coldwater. He later served as the agriculture agent in Mount Clemens and Corunna. During his time as a county agriculture agent, Doug found diagnosing field problems to be his favorite part of the job. In 1982, he returned to MSU to pursue a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology under the guidance of Dr. Christine Stephens, the university’s extension vegetable crops specialist. His research centered on the epidemiology and ecology of Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato, the cause of bacterial speck of tomato. While in graduate school, he married Anne Marie Mullen in September of 1984, and they have four children, Leah, Emily, Theresa, and Michael and a continually growing number of grandchildren. Doug graduated in March of 1985 and immediately accepted a position with Kansas State University’s Department of Plant Pathology, where he remained for 35 years attaining the rank of full professor. Doug held a 90% extension and 10% research appointment and was responsible for all field crops except wheat and alfalfa.
Doug’s extension program was very much county agent oriented. It was his belief that his primary job was to provide agents with the resources they needed to be successful in their counties. For many years he also served as the Kansas IPM coordinator and always promoted IPM concepts in his programs.
Doug’s research interests centered on the evaluation of novel seed treatments for the control of Fusarium seedling blight in grain sorghum. During his evaluations, he noticed that the best treatments always contained metalaxyl, indicating that Pythium was a problem in addition to Fusarium. He began to promote the addition of metalaxyl along with the standard captan treatment. Within a few years, all sorghum seed was routinely treated with metalaxyl. Doug was also an active participant in many North Central Soybean Research Program grants, particularly those dealing with Pythium seedling blight and soybean cyst nematode.
Many of Doug’s most significant accomplishments came in service to APS. He served on APS Council four different times first as North Central Division Councilor, then Secretary, Director of the Office of Public Relations and Outreach, and finally as the editor-in-chief (EIC) of Phytopathology News. For six years as EIC of Phytopathology News, he wrote a monthly column that was widely read and well received. He was elected a Fellow of APS in 2013.
Doug retired in February of 2020. Doug continues to attend both the APS annual meetings and North Central Division meetings. He enjoys remaining engaged with both his colleagues and science.
