Henry A. Wallace Award

This citation honors a College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumnus or friend who has achieved notable professional achievements nationally or internationally and brought distinction to themselves, the college, and the university through their significant contributions. Selection is made by the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

This award was established in 1978 and is presented annually during Iowa State University’s Homecoming Weekend. Click here for the nomination form. Nominations are due the third Tuesday in November.

2022 Henry A. Wallace Awardee

Bill Northey (’81 agricultural business)
Urbandale, Iowa

A fourth-generation farmer from Spirit Lake, Iowa, Bill Northey has made a tremendous impact on agriculture at the state, national, and international levels. He currently serves as CEO of the Agribusiness Association of Iowa.

Northey is most known in Iowa for his tenure as Iowa’s Secretary of Agriculture from 2007-2018. In this role, he travelled to each of Iowa’s 99 counties annually to talk to farmers and local residents about their challenges and concerns.

In March of 2018, he was named Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation for the USDA by the Trump Administration. While in this position, Northey oversaw the division’s 21,000 employees and traveled throughout the United States as well as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. He also worked on the 2018 Farm Bill and set up payments for farmers impacted by the pandemic and trade disputes.

Northey has served as commissioner of the Dickinson County Soil and Water Conservation District, president of the National Corn Growers Association, and president of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture.

He was named a Friend of Agriculture by the Iowa Farm Bureau, an Iowa 4-H Outstanding Alumni, and received the Distinguished Achievement in Agriculture Award from Gamma Sigma Delta. He also received the ISU Alumni Merit Award and ISU Agricultural Business Club Outstanding Alumni Award.

Northey and his wife Cindy are life members of the ISU Alumni Association and active attendees of Iowa State events including the annual College of Agriculture and Life Sciences BBQ.

Past Recipients

• 2021 – Deland J. Myers Sr., ’81 MS food technology, ’84 PhD
• 2020 – Roger Carlsson, ’78 agricultural business
• 2020 – Betsy Freese, ’84 agricultural journalism
• 2019 – Dhamu Thamodaran, ’83 PhD agricultural economics
• 2018 – Max F. Rothschild
• 2017 – Catherine E. Woteki
• 2016 – Robert E. Walton, Sr., ’61 PhD animal science
• 2015 – James P. Tobin, ’78 agricultural and life sciences education
• 2014 – Steven Bradbury, ’81 MS entomology, ’85 PhD
• 2013 – James Blome, ‘85 agronomy and pest management
• 2012 – John P. Gordon
• 2011 – Lowell Catlett, ‘80 PhD economics
• 2010 – Dana R. Robes, ’67 dairy science
• 2009 – David L. Wright, ’82 agronomy, ’86 MS
• 2008 – Owen J. Newlin, ’51 agronomy, ’53 MS
• 2007 – Harlan Ritchie, ’57 animal science, ’64 PhD
• 2006 – Carl Whitcomb, ’66 MS horticulture, ’69 PhD
• 2005 – Ray Townsend
• 2004 – D.L. “Hank” Harris, ’67 doctor of veterinary medicine, ’70PhD
• 2003 – Wesley Buchele, ’54 PhD ag engineering
• 2002 – Burton Endo, ’51 horticulture
• 2001 – Douglas Hard, ’75 animal science, ’78 MS, ’81 PhD
• 2000 – Mark Drabenstott, ’80 MS agricultural economics, ’81 PhD
• 1999 – Billy Day, ’58 PhD animal science
• 1998 – Francis Byrnes, ’75 PhD sociology
• 1997 – Ned Raun, ’61 PhD animal science
• 1996 – Walter Fehr, ’67 PhD agronomy
• 1995 – Luther Tweeten, ’54 agricultural education,’ 62 MS agricultural economics
• 1994 – Duane Acker, ’52 animal science, ’53 MS, ’57 PhD
• 1993 – Roger Mitchell, ’54 agronomy, ’61 PhD
• 1992 – Arnel Hallauer, ’58 MS agronomy, ’60 PhD
• 1991 – Robert Barnes, ’57 agronomy
• 1990 – Kenneth Frey, ’48 PhD agronomy
• 1989 – Eugene Meyer, ’46 dairy science
• 1988 – Herb Plambeck
• 1987 – Neil Harl ’55 agricultural education, ’65 PhD economics
• 1986 – Kenneth Nielsen, ’46 agricultural education
• 1985 – Robert Kalton, ’45 MS agronomy, ’47 PhD
• 1984 – Charles Henderson, ’33 animal science, ’35 MS, ’48 PhD
• 1983 – George Beal, ’43 agricultural economics, ’47 MS, ’53 PhD rural sociology
• 1982 – Louis Thompson, ’47 MS agronomy, ’50 PhD
• 1981 – R. J. Hildreth, ’49 industrial administration,’ 50 MS, ’54 PhD agricultural economics
• 1980 – Charles Black, ’38 MS agronomy, ’42 PhD
• 1979 – Lauren K. Soth, ’32 agricultural journalism, ’38 MS
• 1978 – Earl Heady, ’45 PhD economics