APSnet Education Center
 Solidly Establishes Itself in First Year

www.apsnet.org/education

Gail L. Schumann, Editor-in-Chief

The new APSnet Education Center is completing its first year. Nine senior editors have accepted responsibilities in the areas of advanced plant pathology (Dennis Gross and Kenneth Johnson), extension (Darin Eastburn), K-12 outreach (David TeBeest), industry liaison (Michael Agnew), instructor communication and scholarship (Cleora D’Arcy), and introductory plant pathology (Michael Boehm, Mary Powelson, and Daniel Schadler). Through their hard work and creative ideas, the design, publication categories, editorial policies, and review protocols for the Education Center have been established. Support from APS Headquarters staff (Cynthia Ash, Steve Kronmiller, and Miles Wimer) has been invaluable.

The Education Center was designed to fulfill several important goals:

• Peer-reviewed publication of instructional materials and teaching scholarship
• Educational materials for traditional plant pathology students and those seeking
• continuing education
• Educational outreach to nontraditional audiences, including K-12 teachers and instructors and students in higher education biology and microbiology

Peer-reviewed publications receive citations in the new journal, The Plant Health Instructor, and are posted in various sections of the Education Center along with additional materials, such as the resource catalogs and the monthly K-12 “News and Views.” The four major sections of this freely accessible website are:

• K-12
• Introductory Plant Pathology
• Advanced Plant Pathology
• Instructor Communication and Scholarship

Publications in the first year include 20 plant disease lessons, all of which include a “significance” section, as well as labs for K-12 teachers, introductory students, and advanced students, an advanced topic, an illustrated glossary, and several APSnet Features. Authors for the first year publications include P. A. Arneson, G. Ash, I. Berlanger, W. C. Chun, W. W. Bockus, C. J. D’Arcy, E. L. Davis, L. L. Domier, J. Esnard, T. R. Gottwald, J. H. Graham, J. R. Hartman, V. Heffer, C. J. Jasalavich, K. B. Johnson, K. J. Leonard, A. E. MacGuidwin, D. E. Mathre, J. Mullen, J. L. Parke, L. S. Pierson III, P. Pinstrup-Andersen, R. Ploetz, M. L. Powelson, D. F. Ritchie, K.-B. G. Scholthof, B. K. Scholz-Schroeder, G. L. Schumann, N. A. Tisserat, G. L. Tylka, and L. J. Vaillancourt.

The senior editors conducted the reviews and, in some cases, also served as reviewers of these publications with the aid of many ad hoc reviewers whom, we would like to thank here: R. A. Bennett, J. E. Carroll, E. L. Davis, T. P. Denny, T. A. Evans, C. Fuqua, F. E. Gildow, M. K. Hausbeck, M. Henkels, D. E. Hershman, G. W. Hudler, I. Kaloshian, H. A. Lamey, T. G. Lessie, J. Mullen, J. E. Partridge, P. D. Peterson, Jr., L. S. Pierson III, R. Robbins, R. A. Romero, A. Y. Rossman, C. S. Rothrock, G. E. Ruhl, K.-B. G. Scholthof, R. C. Seem, K. Shelton, W. J. Sherwood, G. W. Sundin, L. S. Thomashow, D. G. White, M. Zaitlin, and R. S. Zeigler.

Additional APS members serve as contacts and moderators for various sections, such as the K-12 Programs listing (Charles Curtis), Mentor listings (Juliet Carroll), and Bulletin Board (David Kalb). Special thanks go to Kisha Shelton who has written most of the K-12 “News and Views” during the first year.

The APSnet Education Center originated in the Office of Electronic Communication directed by James MacDonald. After approval and funding by APS Council, it has developed quickly because of the efforts of numerous contributors, editors, and reviewers. The APS image collection has been a valuable resource for nearly all of these publications.

Although everything is freely accessible, you can now purchase inexpensive CD-ROMs containing 20 plant disease lessons and the Illustrated Glossary through APS Press. The CD-ROMs are provided for classrooms and other situations where Internet access is not available and for those without high-speed Internet access. Income will be used to support APS Press and the APSnet Education Center.

What’s next?

Many other publications are in progress and will be posted as they are completed. Of special interest is a set of illustrated introductions to the major pathogen groups in preparation by individual authors. A history section is planned that will first address the early history of each pathogen group. As the publications increase, those that are related can be linked to each other to optimize their use. Already, many of the publications are enriched with links to other websites.

Authors need not be instructors! All APS members are encouraged to contribute to the education of the next generation of plant pathologists, to the continuing education of working professionals, and to our educational outreach to nontraditional audiences.

• Write a lesson on your favorite disease.
• Write a “News and Views” about something of interest to K-12 teachers.
• Volunteer to be an online mentor.
• Contribute to the resource catalogs.
• Communicate with other instructors by publishing peer-reviewed teaching notes and teaching articles.

Information for contributors is available at the site or contact any of the editors. Help us bring this exciting new resource to the attention of your students, colleagues in related disciplines, and K-12 teachers in your area. And please send us your comments and suggestions as we continue to create the APSnet Education Center.

APS Foundation 
Announces the Arthur Kelman Student Travel Fund

The APS Foundation is pleased to announce the establishment of The Arthur Kelman Student Travel Fund. Colleagues, friends, and former students of Dr. Kelman have created this named fund in honor of and appreciation for his many contributions to plant pathology.

The interest from this fund will be used to assist students to attend the APS Annual Meeting. The first $400 award from the Kelman fund will assist Nora J. Catlin from the University of Massachusetts to attend the 2001 APS meeting in Salt Lake City, UT. The winner was chosen along with the other 24 student travel award winners by a selection committee composed of representatives from the APS Graduate Student Committee and two members each from academia, extension, and industry. Information on how to establish or add to an existing Named Student Travel Fund may be obtained from Stella Coakley by E-mail: coakleys@bcc.orst.edu or Phone: 541/737-5264. A biographical sketch of Dr. Kelman follows.

Dr. Arthur Kelman received the Award of Distinction, the highest honor awarded by the American Phytopathological Society, in 1983. This award is presented only on extremely rare occasions to persons making truly exceptional contributions to plant pathology. It was awarded to Dr. Kelman in recognition of his being a tower of strength to the departments and universities where he has served and to the profession of plant pathology as a whole. He is a superb teacher, a gifted researcher, and a most effective administrator. In addition, he has played a major role in the national and international development of our profession.

Arthur Kelman was born in 1918 in Providence, RI. Although he had originally planned to become a chemist when he entered the University of Rhode Island in 1937, he soon became interested in botany because of the influence of an outstanding instructor, Vernon I. Cheadle. His interest then focused on plant pathology as a result of contacts with Frank L. Howard, whose infectious enthusiasm influenced young Kelman to study plant pathology at North Carolina State University at Raleigh. World War II interrupted his career, and he served for three years as a member of the Signal Intelligence Unit in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. He received a field commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in Italy. He returned to graduate school at North Carolina in 1946, and except for an extramural semester at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, he remained there to complete his Ph.D. degree and to accept a position as assistant professor of plant pathology in 1949.

His Ph.D. work marked the beginning of a life-long interest in bacterial diseases of plants, and specifically, on the causal agent of Granville wilt of tobacco, Ralstonia solanacearum. His research had a far-reaching impact because of the worldwide importance of the diseases caused by this bacterium. Studies with R. solanacearum had been hampered for decades by rapid loss of pathogenicity in culture. Dr. Kelman developed a simple medium for storing and recognizing pathogenic colonies in culture. These findings permitted the identification and study of factors that govern pathogenicity, and greatly accelerated the development of disease-resistant varieties of tobacco, tomato, potato, banana, and other important crops.

In the early 1960s, he developed a program of graduate education and research in forest pathology at North Carolina State University. He and the students that he attracted to this program studied major diseases of southern pines. In addition to his achievements in research, his skills as an educator and his charismatic influence on students were recognized early in his career. He received the award of Outstanding Instructor in the School of Agriculture in 1956. In 1961, he received a Distinguished Teacher Award, and in the same year, the university recognized the value of his contributions when he was named William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Plant Pathology.

Yet another aspect of Dr. Kelman’s versatility became apparent when he moved to the University of Wisconsin at Madison to assume the chair of the Department of Plant Pathology in 1965, where he became an efficient and widely respected administrator. As a member of the influential University Committee, he was involved in the policy-making process on many difficult issues on campus. Despite an extremely demanding schedule, he taught the basic undergraduate course in plant pathology for many years, and in 1987, received the Amoco Excellence in Teaching Award and the Spitzer Excellence in Teaching Award from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He maintained his interest in phytobacteriology and turned his attention to the ecology and physiology of the soft-rotting Erwinias. As a result of studies that he and his students carried out on environmental factors and calcium nutrition, effective measures were implemented to reduce postharvest losses. In 1975, he was named L. R. Jones Distinguished Professor of Plant Pathology and later served as the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation Senior Research Professor (1985-1989) in recognition of his distinguished record of service to the university and the profession. He received the E.C. Stakman Award, University of Minnesota, 1987; the Researcher of the Year Award, Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Industry, 1988; the North American Seed Potato Researcher of the Year Award, 1988; and the University Distinguished Scholar, Department of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, 1989.

Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of Dr. Kelman’s career is his outstanding record of service to professional societies, international agriculture, and to the National Academy of Sciences, which elected him to membership in 1973. He served APS on numerous committees, as councilor-at-large, vice president, and president. He was a major force in the development of the International Society for Plant Pathology, and he served as its vice president (1968-1973) and president (1973-1978). He has been a consultant in international agriculture for the United Fruit Company, the Ford Foundation, and the World Bank; he was a member of the panel that reviewed the International Rice Research Institute in 1975. He also served as chair of the Division of Biological Sciences and as a member of the commission on Life Sciences of the National Research Council and chair of the Section of Applied Biology and Agricultural Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Kelman served as Chief Scientist, National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program, USDA from 1991 to 1993. He was made a Fellow of APS in 1969, was elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977, and received an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1977. As an NSF Senior Postdoctoral Fellow he was a visiting professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Cambridge University, England, in 1971-1972. In 1997, he was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. In 1999, he received an Outstanding Alumnus Award from the Department of Plant Pathology, N.C. State University, and a similar award from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, N.C. State University in 2000. Dr. Kelman remains active as a University Distinguished Scholar in the Department of Plant Pathology at North Carolina State University.

Also in this issue: (as a .PDF file, see link below)

• Foundation News 88

• Plant Pathology Trends 90

• Outreach 92

• Meetings 93

• APS/MSA/SON - Joint Meeting 94

• Journal Articles 100

• People 101

• Classifieds 102

• Calendar of Events 104