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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 11, 1976)
Page 6 THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 11, 1976 County agent gets masters degree after 19-year Commencement speakers some times elaborate on the meaning of the ceremony’s name. In the case of E. J. “Johnny” Har rison, who receives his master’s de gree Friday at Texas A&M Univer sity, such a discourse would carry extra meaning. Harrison was awarded his first degree at Texas A&M in 1947. However, the 19-year gap hardly means the 52-year-old Ward County agent of the Agricultural Extension Service has been letting his learning apparatus gather dust. Johnny Harrison might be called a bellwether of the idea that learn ing doesn’t end with a diploma or degree. At Waco, Madisonville and Monahans, he’s helped push ag ricultural production forward and outward. He explains matter-of-factly that his second degree has been in prog ress a number of years. Harrison was warned that time could run out and cause loss of credit. So the West Texan who lives nearly 400 miles from A&M, since last fall has worked in the final 14 hours of his degree program. While pressing forward for the master of education in agricultural education, Harrison has kept sev eral unique projects progressing in the arid West Texas county. son’s graduate degree committee chairman. The projects involve growing shrimp, crab, Atlantic croaker and redfish in salt water ponds. Harri son also is working with the West Texans on marketing shelled pe cans, grown in the Monahans sand hills. “When Johnny introduced pecan trees there, many people said it couldn’t be done,” commented Dr. Earl Knebel, Agricultural Educa tion Department head and Harri- “We think a lot of Johnny,’’ Knebel said. “He’s a real fine county agent, and a very fine stu dent.” Those sentiments were echoed by others. Dr. Bobby Johnson of A&M’s Student Aid Office worked for Harrison at Madisonville, and calls him a “go-getter. ” “Without the encouragement and guidance of Johnny, the shrimp project wouldn’t go,” said James T. Davis, fisheries specialist at Texas A&M who aided in the project. “He has a genuine concern for the West Texas agricultural producers’ prob lems. He works closely with them day by day. We can’t do that from College Station.” Davis said marketing of West Texas grown shrimp is two or three years away. Technical expertise was furnished by Dr. Jack Palmer, mariculture specialist, and Dr. Wallace Klussman, wildlife and fisheries project leader. Horticulturist Bluef- ford Hancock backed the pilot pecan grove with data and advice. Reported in the July “Texas Ag ricultural Progress” and other pub lications, the five-year-old shrimp project uses gravel pits under which salt water lies eight to 10 feet deep. They soon become salt water lakes. In spite of problems, shrimp stocked in them grow at rates com parable to those in Gulf Coast ponds. The growth was obtained on natural food organisms young shrimp need when they are too small to feed on prepared food. The experiment was Harrison’s idea, and he’s pushing it toward a landlocked maritime industry. He arranged a 6 a.m. tour of the 7 PC. COOKWARE SET Bigger is Detter, if it's your favorite snap shot. Borderless silk enlargements made from any Focal or Kodacolor negative, ^r any color slide. KMART SATISFACTION ALWAYS VM Mutt likt r*w prints nr k mart rtlunss your lull print prtct. 3 pc. set is ideal for fixing your favorite recipe. 7 qt. spaghetti cooker is ideal for cooking where draining is needed. Porcelain enamel, 2 qt. covered saucepans, 5 qt. Dutch oven, fry- pan. i IjL 2700 SOUTH TEXAS AVE., shrimp ponds last year for peJ agribusiness. Three hundredtLur T out. Rte s “The master’s degree issf on a thing I made up my mind hii er j ca n to do,” explained Harrisotp000,0 grew up on a farm in ]ow County south of Fort Word he foui can’t stand still. The worldniartme away from you. ;-up tn He credits others however] to tra as the West Texans “who arestud tive to someone who will tii|i cam “lots of people who havebeeifije an to me, like Dr. John Hutcl;®. (recently retired director This is Texas Agricultural Extension ily loss ice). ks, to U.S. Department of A Kilt} ad and Texas Superior Service iKswsoi winner, Harrison said thealiteam s look at a West Texas gravel J see a shrimp farm has itsBs su ground, in a remark by ant®f mi graduate chemistry prof. Moral g tired, M .K. Thornton is pr Jin tl emeritus of chemistry. Rtdar nomica “Prof Thornton once told tied to call anything waste,” Hur said. j “It’s just lying there waitiiij we get smart enough touseil Four profile’. " J jing to . a 1 rri and fo attend leM v ue ! Yoi i the T( pter (T iVersit) Conference Several Texas A&M Unive;|p doe; culty plan to attend the file hei Conference of Professors oflcoolin tional Administration meet kes its 15-20 in Knoxville, TeniPrjncij nounced Dr. John Hoyle,ori> eithe tion president and Texas ding, sociate professor. Rt im Hoyle, a Texas A&M grad* only the second Texan e! 2,000-member group’s 30-)J tory to serve as chief executf) will coordinate the annualrA expected to draw hundredsil University of Tennessee canp Dr. Harold Hawkins, Te» Educational Administratid partment head, will attend.! | Richardson will be respons: the daily newsletter at the! I ence and Dr. Phil Westwillpl a paper on community edA leadership. Also attending will be Dll Hensarling who is retiringfc- A&M faculty Aug. 31 after! service in education. Are your health ins« premiums too high? 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