And One Hand on the Bench the on Hand One And And One Hand on the Bench The First Century of the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison The comprehensive history (1910–2010) of the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison appears in two volumes. Volume I (illustrated above), With One Foot in the Furrow, published to mark the 75th anniversary of the Department of Plant Pathology, covers the period 1910–85. Volume II (this text), And One Hand on Edited by John H. Andrews H. John by Edited the Bench, marks the 100th anniversary and covers the entire history of the department with emphasis on the most recent 25 years. Both volumes are available as PDFs on the CD enclosed in a sleeve on the inner cover of this book. Edited by John H. Andrews And One Hand on the Bench The First Century of the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Edited by John H. Andrews To all those who pass through these gates — members of the Department past, present, and future — this book is dedicated “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast” — Ernest Hemingway, to a friend, 1950* *From: Ernest Hemingway, 1964. A Moveable Feast© Scribner, NY COVER PHOTO CREDITS Wisconsin agricultural landscape: Wolfgang Hoffmann Plants: John Helgeson. Shown are healthy potato plants with resistance to potato late blight (conferred by the RB gene from Solanum bulbocastanum) surrounded by diseased susceptible plants. Nucleotide electropherogram: Russell Spear Library of Congress Control Number: 2010925155 ISBN Number 978-0-615-35307-4 Copyright © 2010 by Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System Contents PREFACE........................................................................................................viii SECTION I: The Department through Time in Photographs and Words ....... 1 The Pioneers: Our Founder and the “Big Four” ......................................................2 Charlotte Elliott: Accomplished Phytobacteriologist and First Female PhD ....13 Cecil Edmund Yarwood, 1907–81 ...........................................................................16 Glenn S. Pound: An Exemplar of Leadership in the Mid 20th Century ..............19 J. C. Walker: A Giant on Whose Shoulders We All Stand ....................................26 Remembering Noel Keen ..........................................................................................29 Don Hagedorn: A Full Life .......................................................................................31 Gus de Zoeten: Plant Virologist Extraordinaire and Bon Vivant ........................36 Eugene Smalley: Plantsman and ‘Old China Hand’ ..............................................41 Arthur Kelman — A Man for All Seasons ..............................................................48 SECTION II: Recollections by Faculty, Staff, and Students ........................... 55 On the Shoulders of Giants by Paul Ahlquist .........................................................56 Finding My Balance by Caitilyn Allen .....................................................................60 Some Things I Learned by John H. Andrews ..........................................................65 70 Years at Madison by Deane Arny ........................................................................71 My Life and Times as a Student at Madison by Bob Avenius ...............................72 From Rhode Island to Wisconsin by Carl Beckman ..............................................74 What I Remember by Peter Blenis ...........................................................................75 Recollections of Plant Pathology 559 by James Buck.............................................76 Adventures in Potato Pathology by Amy O. Charkowski ......................................78 My Unforgettable Experience: Dreams and Realities by Luigi Ciampi-Panno ..82 At the Nexus by Murray Clayton .............................................................................85 Wisconsin Remembered by John Duniway ............................................................90 vi Why Wisconsin? My Emerging Perception of Field Crops Extension Plant Pathology by Paul Esker .............................................................91 How Did I Get Here and Where Am I Going? by Amanda J. Gevens .................94 Everything I Needed to Know About Plant Pathology I Learned in Graduate School by Dennis Halterman ..........................................96 Why UW Plant Pathology? by Tom Hammond .....................................................97 Reflections of an 80s Grad Student by Mary Ann Hansen ................................. 101 Breakfast with J. C. Walker by Mike J. Havey ...................................................... 106 Thoughts on 40-Plus Years in the Department by John P. Helgeson ................. 108 Recollections of My Time at the UW Plant Pathology Department by John Irwin ......................................................................................................... 113 Perceptions and Aspirations from the Grass by Jim Kerns ................................ 114 Making the Most of Your Grad Student Days by Linda Kinkel ......................... 118 Our Lives in Plant Pathology by James E. Kuntz and Helen Hartley Kuntz .... 120 Stranger in a Strange Land: My Introduction to the World of Plant Pathology by Karen Lackermann ............................................. 123 The Path I Took from Plasmids to Rice Genomics by Sally Leong ................... 127 Some Reflections on the Main Office, 1910–2010 by Marleen Steinmetz Lippert .............................................................................. 133 A Nematologist Among Pathologists by Ann MacGuidwin .............................. 137 Four Decades and Counting by Douglas P. Maxwell .......................................... 140 Midstream by Patricia McManus .......................................................................... 145 The Relationship Between Skiing and Geraniums by Tomas Pastalka ............ 147 Lessons from Wisconsin by Albert Paulus ........................................................... 149 Lost in (Viral) Translation by Aurélie Mamisoa Rakotondrafara ...................... 151 Working and Learning Together by Bob Rand .................................................... 154 The Back Door to Plant Pathology by Luis Sequeira .......................................... 158 20 Years in the UW Plant Pathology Department: A Perspective from the Inside by Denise Smith ................................................ 163 Extension Vegetable Pathology — Then and Now by Walter R. Stevenson ..... 165 Recollections of the Department of Plant Pathology by Paul Tooley ............... 169 vii Reflections on My 50 Years in the Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin–Madison by Paul H. Williams ................................. 172 Memories and Reflections — An Interesting Trip by Gayle L. Worf ................ 178 SECTION III: Appendices ............................................................................ 185 Appendix 1: The Collective Faculty (photograph, 2009) ................................... 186 Appendix 2: The Collective Staff, Madison and Rhinelander (photographs, 2009) ............................................................................................. 187 Appendix 3: The Collective Graduate Students (photograph, 2009) ............... 188 Appendix 4: MS and PhD Degrees Conferred by the Plant Pathology Department, 1985 (continued from Vol. I) through May 2010 ..................... 189 Appendix 5: Major Offices Held by Faculty, and Honors Accorded Faculty, by the American Phytopathological Society ..................................................... 191 Appendix 6: Faculty Elected to the National Academy of Sciences ................. 192 Appendix 7: Chairmen of the Plant Pathology Department ............................. 193 Appendix 8: Staffing Patterns, Plant Pathology Department, 1986 –2009 ...... 194 Appendix 9: The Faculty (individual photographs with biodata) .................... 195 Appendix 10: MS and PhD Graduates of the Department, 1985 (continued from vol. I) through May 2010 (photographs) ................... 206 Appendix 11: References ........................................................................................ 222 INDEX ........................................................................................................... 223 viii And One Hand on the Bench Preface This book marks the Centennial in 2010 of the creation of the Plant Pathology Department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. For readers interested in our comprehensive history, this volume should be read in conjunction with the companion volume covering the first 75 years, With One Foot in the Furrow (eds. P. H. Williams and M. Marosy, Kendall Hunt, Dubuque, Iowa, 1986), here- after abbreviated to ‘Volume I’ or Furrow.’‘ 1 The title of that volume, as explained in its Preface (p. v), was based on advice given by J. C. Walker to Paul Williams about how Williams should pursue his future program. The title of this present volume, And One Hand on the Bench, is the logical counterpart to Walker’s statement and it also reflects the mirror image of our discipline. Plant Pathology is in approxi- mately equal measures an applied and basic science; nowhere else is this principle