Roger Locandro, a retired faculty member from the Rutgers School of Biological and Environmental Sciences (SEBS) and New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES), will be honored at the 15th Annual "Celebration of Excellence" Awards Dinner on Thursday, April 24, 2007. The tribute is in acknowledgement of his years of major contributions to the mission and goals of the school and experiment station. The awards were be presented by Bob Goodman, executive dean of agriculture and natural resources.

April 24, 2008

New Brunswick, NJ--Roger Locandro, a retired faculty member from the Rutgers School of Biological and Environmental Sciences (SEBS) and New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES), will be honored at tonight's 15th Annual "Celebration of Excellence" Awards Dinner. The tribute is in acknowledgement of his years of major contributions to the mission and goals of the school and experiment station. The award will be presented by Robert M. Goodman, executive dean of agriculture and natural resources.

Born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Dr. Locandro has dedicated his life to teaching and service to the residents of New Jersey. He began his teaching career in 1956 as an instructor of vocational agriculture at Palmyra High School in Palmyra, New Jersey. While at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (then Cook College) and the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Locandro served as a county agricultural and resource management agent, associate extension specialist, assistant dean, associate dean, dean of students, and professor and extension specialist in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources. Locandro currently holds the position of professor emeritus in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources.

Locandro has provided over 100 off-campus lectures in areas of professional competence. He planned and implemented innovative Student Life Programs in finance, leadership development and student government. He served as a consultant for the evaluation of college teaching programs, including Atlantic County Community College, Stockton State College, Cumberland County College and Middlesex County College. In addition, he designed and instructed unique, well-received courses in plant ecology (Landscapes of New Jersey), meat science, fisheries science, fisheries research, natural resources of Alaska, Newfoundland and Canada, and the tropical ecology portion of the class "Tropical Ecosystems and Agriculture." He served as chairman and member of the New Jersey State Fish and Game Council, was co-author of a study of hunter education in New Jersey which impacted over 300,000 people and authored the first National Marine Fisheries habitat policy.

Internationally, Locandro represented Rutgers University at the United Nations Environment Program in Nairobi, Kenya, providing a unique extension of the SEBS environmental and agricultural instructional programs on an international level. During his tenure at SEBS he was a representative on an extension Student Life Program encompassing eighteen weeks in Europe, Africa, and England. He also was a speaker at the International Plant Congress in Paris.

Locandro holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the College of Agriculture at Rutgers University as well as a Master of Science and Post Doctoral degrees in Botany and Ecology from the Graduate School-New Brunswick at Rutgers University.

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