The Distinguished Service Award if given for service, leadership, and outstanding contributions to RCAS over an extended period of time.

2008 Distinguished Service Award Recipient

Dr. Paul Sebesta
Center Director, USDA/ARS Kika de la Garza Subtropical Agricultural Research Center Weslaco, Texas

The Research Centers Administrators Society is pleased to present the 2007 Distinguished Service Award to Dr. Paul Sebesta.

Dr. Paul Sebesta is the Center Director of the USDA/ARS Kika de la Garza Subtropical Agricultural Research Center at Weslaco, Texas. He began this assignment June 26, 2005.

Dr. Sebesta earned his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Oklahoma State University. He began his research career in 1980 as an Assistant Professor of Agronomy and winter wheat breeder at North Dakota State University. In 1982, he assumed the position of project leader with HybriTech Seed International, Inc., a Monsanto subsidiary. Dr. Sebesta began his administrative career in 1987 as a unit head with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Texas A&M University, where he was responsible for intellectual property rights management, plant materials licensing as well as foundation seed production, distribution and marketing. From 1995 to 2004 he served as the Director of the University of California Desert Research and Extension Center (DREC) in El Centro California. While at DREC, his research focused on the use of sugarcane and sweet sorghum as feedstocks for the production of ethanol, electricity and other value-added bioproducts. Prior to joining ARS, Dr. Sebesta was employed by the National Audubon Society as a program director.

Dr. Sebesta was one of the first to join RCAS from California helping make RCAS a national organization and was an active member. He helped organize the tours the two times RCAS met in California. He actively participated in positions in the organization working as committee chair and became secretary in 2003, VP in 2004 and President in 2005-2006. As past president he hosted the winter 2007 RCAS meeting at South Padre Island, Texas.

Past Recipients of the Distinguished Service Award

1987 John Ewing
1988 Robert "Bobby" Moss
1989 Joe High, Jr.
1990 Wallace Griffey & Bill Webb
1991 Norman Justus
1992 Gene Morrison & Jere McBride
1993 William Loe & Howard Malstrom
1994 James Riley Hill
1995 Edward Worley
1996 Robert Freeland & Will Waters
1997 Joe Musick
1998 Dennis Onks
1999 John “Ike” Sewell
2000 F.T. “Butch” Withers, Jr.
2001 Joe McFarland
2002 John Hodges III & John Robinson
2003 Ben Kittrell & Jim Jones
2004 Findlay Pate & Carl Tart
2005 Denny Thompson
2006 Dave Langston
2007 William O. Peterson
2008 Paul Sebesta