After dedicating more than 25 years to the College of Agriculture, Henry Kinnucan was awarded the Southern Agricultural Economics Association's 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award Feb. 7.
Changyou Sun, professor at Mississippi State University and one of Kinnucan's former students, was at the SAEA meeting when Kinnucan, professor of agricultural economics, received the award.
"He definitely deserves it," Sun said.
The award recognizes professors who have been in the profession for at least a quarter century.
"For those who meet that criteria, they then examine your record to see if you've done anything that has significant, enduring contributions in public service or research," Kinnucan said. "Research would be the appropriate category for me."
Kinnucan's research has left a lasting impact on his students.
"He became my role model after I observed his work attitude and rigorous scholarship," said Yuqing Zheng, Auburn graduate and another of Kinnucan's former students. "He is very professional in conducting academic studies and super productive, producing about three to five peer-reviewed journal articles per year."
Now a research economist, Zheng said he has noticed Kinnucan's work is highly recognized at both his current job and at Cornell University, where Zheng taught after graduating from Auburn.
Patricia Duffy, professor of agricultural economics, earned the award for lifetime achievement last year and nominated Kinnucan this year.
Kinnucan grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. After attending the University of Illinois for his bachelor's degree and receiving his master's from the University of Minnesota, he moved to Auburn in 1983.
"His teaching is thought provoking," Zheng said.
Kinnucan's method of teaching involves textbooks, journal articles and lecture notes, a technique known as the tri-teaching method, Zheng said.
"The tri-teaching method was well received by students," Zheng said. "Eventually I used this method in my teaching at Cornell University as well."
"His lecture notes are like textbooks," said Ermanno Affuso, also a former student who now serves as a faculty fellow at Rhodes College. "He always said in class, 'If you decide to work in academia, you have to publish, and you must be persistent.'"
Earning this award is not Kinnucan's first great achievement in his academic career.
"He published over 100 journal articles in agricultural and resource economics," Sun said. "He mentored so many undergraduate and graduate students with great quality and placements."
Under Kinnucan's mentorship, Sun published his term paper from Kinnucan's class in a peer-reviewed journal, "which is not very common," Sun said. "The experience was wonderful."
His attentiveness to individual students doesn't change with class size.
"Does it matter that there are 44 other students in the class?" said Roger Brown, a former student who now teaches in the agriculture department at the University of Kentucky. "In Dr. Kinnucan's class, no. He'll answer your question precisely ... His answer will be accessible and it won't seem to anyone else in the class that your question was off-topic."
Kinnucan served on Brown's dissertation committee.
"I'll never forget how great it felt to hear those compliments about my own teaching and presentation style coming from Dr. Kinnucan," Brown said.
Besides his fifth-grade teacher, Brown described Kinnucan as "the best teacher I've ever had."
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