Dr. Stephen Black, associate professor of horticulture at Eastern Kentucky University, has been honored for his outstanding contributions in the area of agricultural communications and education.
The Kiwanis Club of Richmond presented Black with the 2009 Jack Taylor Support of Agriculture Award, established in 2002 and named after former Agricultural Extension Agent and former director of the EKU Stateland Farm.
Black has been the recipient of awards from EKU, Future Farmers of America and the University’s Horticulture Club. His service to the community has included conducting greenhouse tours, judging 4-H contests at the county fair, and providing demonstrations to garden and homemakers clubs.
A graduate of Louisiana State University and the University of Tennessee, Black has received pesticide certification from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, assisted in FFA contests at the local, regional, state and national levels, and participated in the Kentucky Nursery Association Convention.
He has worked diligently to acquire chemicals, equipment and other supplies for the floral program at Eastern, and his students have created floral arrangements for a wide variety of university and community activities.
The Taylor award has previously been awarded to a high school agricultural teacher, university agricultural administrators and teachers, an agricultural extension agent and a Madison County resident active in the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. Past EKU recipients have been Dr. Danny Britt, former chair of the Department of Agriculture (2005); Dr. Bruce Pratt, chair of the Department of Agriculture (2007); and Mike Judge, former chair of the Department of Agriculture and former director of EKU Farms (2008).
