Six alumni and two faculty members of Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) were honored at a dinner Nov. 16. Mitchell Kornet '76, DVM '79, president of the ALS Alumni Association, presided over the festivities at the Statler Hotel on campus. Nearly 230 alumni, faculty and staff of the college attended the banquet.

This year's Outstanding Alumni Award winners are:

Raymond E. Borton '53, who retired in 1996 as senior economist with the California State Office of Economic Research. He had previously served as an agricultural economist in the California State Department of Food and Agriculture. Earlier in his career, Borton worked in Vietnam with International Voluntary Services, as a visiting professor at the University of the Philippines, and in Ethiopia as an agricultural economist with the Stanford Research Institute. In the mid-1980s, he played a significant role in organizing and leading the Sacramento Economics Roundtable and received its Founder's Award in 1990.

Karen L. Houseknecht, Ph.D. '94, the newly appointed vice president of biology for ASDI Inc., a supplier of research-enabling technologies and products.She served until recently as an associate research fellow at Pfizer Global Research and Development, where she specialized in diabetes discovery. She is also a former faculty member of Purdue University and the Indiana University School of Medicine. In 2005 Houseknecht received both the Pfizer Global Research and Development Achievement Award and the Power of Women Award, the latter for her work supporting educational and leadership opportunities for women and girls. In addition, she was awarded the 2006 Women of Innovation Award for Large Business Innovation and Leadership by the Connecticut Technology Council.

John W. Lincoln '60, president of the New York Farm Bureau and New York Farm Bureau Member Services. With his wife, Anne, and two children, he is a partner in Linholm Dairy in Bloomfield, N.Y. As president of the Farm Bureau, Lincoln leads the largest and most influential grassroots membership organization in New York, with a statewide membership of more than 30,000 families. Lincoln is a member of the CALS Advisory Council and also serves on the board of directors of LEAD New York, a leadership development program for the food and agriculture industries.

Peter B. Saltonstall '75, co-owner, with his wife, Tacie, of King Ferry Winery, makers of Treleaven wines. He chairs the board of the New York Wine and Grape Foundation and was instrumental in changing national and state laws to allow direct shipment of New York wines to other states. He collaborates actively with Cornell's enology and viticulture program and serves on the CALS Advisory Council. The Saltonstalls had a "Triple Crown" win at the International Eastern Wine Competition with their 2005 Dry Riesling, which won Best in Class, Best Riesling and Best White Wine.

Robert G. Tobin '60, the retired chairman of Stop & Shop Supermarkets, where he rose from store trainee to president and CEO. He also retired as president and CEO of U.S. parent company Royal Dutch Ahold USA and interim CEO of U.S. Food Service. In 1999 the Food Marketing Institute awarded Tobin its highest distinction, the Sidney R. Rabb Award. The Kingdom of the Netherlands named him an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau in 2001. Tobin is a member of the CALS Advisory Council and is founding chair of the Food Industry Management Program Advisory Board in CALS. He and his wife, Audrey, endowed the Robert G. Tobin Professorship of Marketing in the Department of Applied Economics and Management.

This year's Young Alumni Achievement Award recipient is:

Ejnar Knudsen '91, a managing partner of Kruse Investment Co. and Craton Capital and a noted financial expert and entrepreneur. In the past six years he has helped Western Milling increase annual sales from $30 million to over $500 million, enabling the company to form Phoenix Bio Industries and establish the first large-scale ethanol plant in California. As an executive and board member of Cilion, a company dedicated to producing and promoting ethanol production, Knudsen initiated plans to locate two ethanol plants in upstate New York.

This year's Outstanding Faculty/Staff Award recipients are:

Elizabeth "Lisa" D. Earle, who joined the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics in 1975. She has been a full professor since 1986 and chaired the department from 1993 to 2001. She was a faculty-elected member of the Cornell University Board of Trustees from 2002 to 2006 and served on the presidential search committee that brought David Skorton to Cornell. Earle is a noted teacher and has published more than 170 journal articles. At the age of 16, Earle won an essay contest to appear on "This I Believe" with Edward R. Murrow; in 2005 National Public Radio invited her to reflect on that essay as a guest on "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition."

Wendell L. Roelofs, the Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of Insect Biochemistry in the Department of Entomology at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva. He chaired the department from 1991 to 2007. A foremost leader in the field of chemical ecology and the author of nearly 400 articles, Roelofs has received many distinguished honors, including the Wolf Prize for International Agriculture, the National Medal of Science, the Alexander von Humboldt Award, five honorary doctorates and election to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Since the inception of the ALS Alumni Association awards in 1977, 182 individuals have been honored from among more than 80,000 living alumni and approximately 400 faculty members.