Alumni honors to be presented Saturday

Four will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award and two will receive the Distinguished Young Alumni Award.

The Distinguished Alumni Award ecipients are Casey Frye and his wife, Tanja Frye, of Ames, Iowa, Sharon Hoffman of Bayard and Darrel McDonald of Lufkin, Texas.

Those receiving the Distinguished Young Alumni Award are Loren Giesler of Lincoln and Dustin Ladenburger of Stratton.

The group will receive the honors during the homecoming luncheon at the Student Center on Saturday.

Casey Frye, Ph.D.
Ames, Iowa
Distinguished Alumni Award

Dr. Casey Frye of Ames, Iowa, has had a successful career in food science since graduating from Chadron State College in 1982.

Frye is the vice president of research and development at Burke Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hormel Foods. He also is a collaborating professor at Iowa State University, and serves on the advisory boards of the Kansas State University Meat Science program, and the University of Nebraska Food Processing Center.

Frye has earned numerous professional awards and has been on the executive board of the American Meat Science Association since 2006.

Frye earned a master’s degree from the University of Nebraska, and a doctorate from Iowa State University. Upon completion of his doctorate degree, he was on the meat science faculty at Kansas State for two years.

Frye, who was raised on the University of Wyoming livestock research farm in Laramie, majored in biology at Chadron State. While at Chadron State, he was on the scout team of the 1978 Boot Hill Bowl championship team. He was active in student government, serving as student senate president. He also was the co-founder and first president of the CSC Ag Club.

He and his wife Tanja, who also is among this year’s award recipients, enjoy dog training, upland bird hunting and non-technical mountain climbing.

Tanja Frye, DVM
Ames, Iowa
Distinguished Alumni Award

Dr. Tanja Frye of Ames, Iowa, serves as a veterinary practitioner at Ingersoll Animal Hospital in Des Moines.

After earning a degree from Chadron State, she worked as a research technologist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center at Omaha, then later became a veterinary student at Iowa State University.

Frye, a native of Sidney, Neb., earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Chadron State in 1981 with majors in chemistry and biology. While at CSC, she was on the volleyball and softball teams, and was the co-caption of the Eagle softball team her senior year. She also was active in student senate, and the CSC biology and Cardinal Key clubs.

She and her husband, Casey, serve on the Chadron State Foundation’s Board of Trustees and the Chadron State National Campaign Leadership Council. Casey also is among this year’s award recipients.

In her spare time, she sings alto in her church choir and enjoys teaching dog obedience classes and competes with her golden retrievers in obedience, agility, field trials and hunt tests.

Sharon Hoffman
Bayard, Neb.
Distinguished Alumni Award

Sharon Hoffman of Bayard, Neb., who was inducted to the Chadron State College Music Hall of Fame in 2002, is in her 32^nd year of teaching music in the Bayard public school system. Her work in the classroom and involvement in professional organizations has earned her many accolades.

Hoffman, who teaches all grades at Bayard, was named the Nebraska Music Educator of the Year by The National Federation of High Schools Interscholastic Music Association in 2007. She also was honored as the Nebraska Music Educators Educator of the Year in 2006.

Hoffman has served in various capacities for the Nebraska Choral Directors, has been the Nebraska School Activities Association District 6 music coordinator for the past 21 years, and serves on the Nebraska Music Educators Association executive board. 

She was named Bayard Education Association Outstanding Educator in 1990 and served as a panelist at the 1991 ACDA Convention on a session titled “Surviving Successfully in a Small School Music Program”.

Hoffman received both a bachelor's and master's degree in music education from Chadron State.

At Bayard, she directs the junior high choir, junior high show choir, concert choir, the Magic Rhythm show choir, 21^st Century Singers, jazz choir, elementary bands, junior high band and high school band, in addition to teaching elementary general music.

Her groups compete regularly in a four-state area and have won numerous awards and competitions.

Hoffman is an active adjudicator and clinician in Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado and South Dakota. Sharon and her husband, Ron, have three children, Michaela, Sarah, and Jacob.

Darrel L. McDonald, Ph.D
Lufkin, Texas
Distinguished Alumni Award

Dr. Darrel L. McDonald of Lufkin, Texas, has had a successful career in geospatial sciences and geography studies since earning two undergraduate degrees and a master’s degree from Chadron State College in the 1970s.

McDonald is the assistant director of the Columbia Regional Geospatial Service Center. He also is a Professor of Geospatial Sciences in the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas.

In addition, McDonald is a faculty member of the Center for Regional Heritage Research in the College of Liberal and Applied Arts. During the last two decades, McDonald has taught courses in geography and geospatial sciences at undergraduate and graduate levels. In the mid 1990s, he established Humanities Urban Environmental Sciences GIS Laboratory. A major focus of the lab was building GIS infrastructure databases for the City of Nacogdoches, the SFASU campus and other smaller projects for public agencies. For the next decade these projects introduced students and professionals in the region to opportunities in a working laboratory while completing their degree requirements.

In 2005, after the 2003 Columbia Shuttle Debris Recovery incident, federal funding created the Columbia Regional Geospatial Service Center which merged existing geospatial resources on the campus. Since then, McDonald has been involved with coordinating education and training programs for students and community professionals for the System’s four locations in Texas. Research interests are centered on spatial analysis of cultural landscape changes on Galveston Island area, Native American Church issues and cultural biogeography studies.

McDonald’s three Chadron State degrees are a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics and biology in 1972, a Bachelor of Science in earth sciences and geography in 1975, and a Master of Science in Education in 1977. He earned a doctorate in geography and biogeography from Texas A&M University in 1990.

Darrel’s wife, J.P., is the executive director of the Museum of East Texas at Lufkin.

Loren J. Giesler, Ph.D.
Lincoln, Neb.
Distinguished Young Alumni Award

Dr. Loren Giesler of Lincoln, Neb., a 1992 graduate of Chadron State College, is a professor and extension plant pathologist at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln’s Department of Plant Pathology, where he has produced an immeasurable amount of research since serving on the faculty since 1999.

Giesler has written or co-authored hundreds of articles for books, magazines and refereed publications. He also has secured nearly $2 million in grant funding to support his program at UNL.

In 2009, the department was presented the Top Educational Crop Production Program in the Nation award from the National Association of County Agricultural Agents. Among at least a half dozen other prestigious honors, he earned the Education and Research Person of the Year Award from the Nebraska Agri-Business Association in 2008, the UNL Junior Faculty Holling Family Award for Teaching Excellence in 2006, and the UNL Distinguished Extension Specialist of the Year award in 2005.

Giesler served in a variety of other positions at UNL during his professional career. He was coordinator of the Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic 1997-1999 and served as a research technologist 1995-1997.

After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from Chadron State, Giesler earned two degrees in plant pathology at UNL -- a Master of Science in 1994 and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1998.

He and his wife, Keryl, have four children, Caleb, Joshua, Zachary and Matthew.

Dustin Ladenburger
Stratton, Neb.
Distinguished Young Alumni Award

Dustin Ladenburger of Stratton, Neb., has become widely recognized in agriculture related leadership activities since graduating from Chadron State College.

Ladenburger, a fourth-generation agriculture producer who raises beef, wheat and corn on 2,000 acres in Hitchcock County, has been recognized for service on committees devoted to young farmers and ranchers. He serves on the Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee of both the Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation and the American Farm Bureau Federation.

In late 2009, the Nebraska Farm Bureau presented Ladenburger the organization’s Young Farmers and Ranchers Achievement Award. He was selected on the basis of performance in farm and ranch management, setting and achieving goals, overcoming obstacles, and service to the community and Farm Bureau.

Ladenburger earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in rangeland management in 1999 and a Bachelor of Science in elementary education in 2004. He is a 1995 graduate of Stratton High School.

While at CSC in 1999, he received an award for being the institution’s outstanding student in range management and also the Society for Range Management Award. He also served as an admissions ambassador and was active in the Ag Club and the Newman Center.

In addition to managing his operation, he also helps his parents and younger brother in their farming operations. In 2004-2007, prior to beginning his farming operation, he taught upper elementary grades at Hitchcock County Schools.