The honorary doctors from the four faculties at SLU gave their lectures on October 7, 2011. The conferment ceremony took place on October 8, 2011, at SLU in Uppsala.
- Programme for the honorary doctors' lectures (in Swedish)
SLU’s 2011 honorary doctors at the four faculties are:
Child safety and horticulture
Faculty of Landscape Planning, Horticulture and Agricultural Sciences
Barbara Lee works at the Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, Wisconsin, US, and is being recognized for her work in preventing injuries among children and adolescents in the agricultural sector.
Kornelia Smalla is scientific director of the Julius Kühn Institute and a professor at the University of Braunschweig in Germany. She is one of the leading figures in ecological microbiology. Her research brings together environmental, medical, and plant-production issues.
Outdoor educator, Nicaraguan professor, and water pioneer
Faculty of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences
Susan Humphries has developed a pedagogy based on landscape architecture, cultivation, and culture. As a teacher and headmaster at Coombes School in England her commitment to environmental issues has made both her and the school world famous. Her pedagogy combines traditional teaching with creative work, in the form of both cultivation/planting and drama/theatre. Her work is largely focused on children’s need for good outdoor environments.
Francisco Telémaco Talavera Siles is a professor at Universidad Nacional Agraria (UNA) in Nicaragua. Collaboration with SLU has led to 22 UNA teachers completing master’s degrees at SLU, eleven taking doctorates, and seven more working towards their doctorates. It has also made it possible for students and researchers/teachers from SLU to study tropical agriculture on site in Nicaragua.
Andrew Sharpley was born in England but works today at the University of Arkansas in the US, as professor of soil and water quality. During his thirty-year research career he has been deeply committed to enhancing our understanding of the impact of agriculture on surface and groundwater.
Two members of Swedish Academies
Faculty of Forest Sciences
Maria Norrfalk, governor of Dalecarlia County, holds a master of science in forestry and during her career has served as director general of both the Swedish Forest Agency and Sida (the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency). During the period 1993–2001 she was a member of the SLU Board. Now, among other assignments, she is a member of the board at Swedfund International AB and the council of trustees at the World Wide Fund for Nature. As of 1993 Maria Norrfalk is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry.
Karl-Gustaf Löfgren, senior professor of economics at Umeå University, completed his doctorate in 1977 at Umeå University, where he continues to be active. In the late 1970s he was appointed professor of forest economics at SLU and helped make the Department of Forest Economics one of the world’s leading research environments in the subject. Karl-Gustaf is a member of both the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Dedicated work to benefit animals
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science
Honorary doctor of agronomy Paul B. Siegel, the grand old man of global fowl breeding, works as a professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the US. Following his doctorate from Kansas State University he came to the then Virginia Polytechnic Institute as early as 1957. There his research and teaching has long focused on the impact of breeding on growth, reproduction, and immunology.
Mats Törnquist is a leading figure in Swedish veterinary health for cattle. He has been involved in Swedish preventive animal healthcare specializing in cattle. He built up and is responsible for cattle healthcare at Swedish Animal Healthcare (SvDHV) where he also served as deputy CEO from 2001 to 2010. He actively took part in establishing measures to combat and monitor BVD, blackleg, bluetongue, and PRRS as well as expanding our knowledge of EHEC/VTEC in Swedish cattle.