OSU professor named ASHS Fellow

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

A long-time professor at Oklahoma State University joined a highly esteemed list of colleagues from around the country with the announcement of a coveted honor.

Brian Kahn, a professor of vegetable crops in OSU’s Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, was named as a Fellow within the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS).

“I’m very humbled to be selected for this honor and to be part of such a select group,” Kahn said. “This is definitely a career accomplishment. It has been a long-term goal of mine to be an ASHS Fellow and it’s wonderful to have this validation.”

ASHS bestows this honor in recognition of truly outstanding contributions to horticulture and to the Society. Kahn joins more than 475 ASHS members who have been named Fellows since the award’s inception in 1965.

Kahn received his B.S. degree from Delaware Valley College in 1976, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University in 1979 and 1982, respectively. Kahn joined the faculty at OSU in 1982, and although the majority of his appointment is research, he has shown great dedication to teaching and student mentorship and said his heart is with the students.

Lori Steffy knows first-hand of Kahn’s dedication to his students. She was one of his students and said he had a big impact on her college career. Steffy said at one point she had just about given up on herself and her dream of a college degree while attending OSU.

“Dr. Kahn checked in on me and encouraged me and he never gave up on me,” said Steffy, who graduated with a degree in horticulture. “He had the biggest influence through my college career and I wouldn’t have made it without him. I owe my success to him.”

Steffy currently is a division supervisor at Greenleaf Nursery in Park Hill and last fall was awarded the 2014 ONLA Green Industry Professional Award.

Janet Cole serves as head of OSU’s Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture and previously has been named an ASHS Fellow, so she knows the hard work and dedication it takes to achieve this honor.

“Brian does an excellent job of working with new students entering our programs and helping them to understand the different available majors and how credits these students have already earned can transfer from another program and fit into various degree plans,” Cole said. “Not every course can be directly applied to the degree programs, but Dr. Kahn does an excellent job of identifying classes that can be applied."

Kahn served as the faculty advisor to the OSU Horticulture Club for seven years, and under his guidance, the club won first or second place in the ASHS Southern Region and brought home the national ASHS Outstanding Small Club Award in 2001. Student leaders selected him as the Outstanding Advisor in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources in 1996.

Over the course of his career at OSU, which has spanned more than three decades, he has mentored eight graduate students and more than 250 undergraduates. He has served on the CASNR Curriculum and Academic Standards Committee continuously since 1987, and has pioneered the concepts of formal academic minors and articulation planning guides that have been developed into college-wide initiatives.

Kahn also is the only faculty member within CASNR to hold national certification as a Global Career Development Facilitator.

His research at OSU emphasizes cultural and management practices to support the vegetable industry. He has received numerous grants, both from industry and competitive funding sources, to further his research. In addition, Kahn has a diversified publication record.

“My practical and applied research supports and advances agriculture, which is at the heart of OSU’s land-grant mission,” he said.

Not only is he dedicated to his students and research work at OSU, Kahn also has a long record of service to ASHS, of which he has been a member since 1977. Well known for his editorial skills, he was one of the youngest associate editors in ASHS history, and received the Outstanding Reviewer Award in 1995. Kahn has been an active member of several regional and national ASHS committees, chaired two working groups and served as president of the ASHS Southern Region in 2012. He also was presented the J.C. Miller, Jr. Distinguished Educator Award from the ASHS Southern Region in 2008.

“I’ve been extremely fortunate during my career to work with a great group of people at OSU. Being able to be a mentor and a positive influence with my students is a huge thing,” Kahn said. “I have gotten tremendously heartwarming feedback from my students. It’s nice to know I’ve made a positive impact.”

Kahn will be presented with his Fellow award at the ASHS national meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, in August.