Undergraduate Awards

Each year the Division of Biology recognizes superior achievements of its undergraduate majors with the Most Promising Student and H. H. Haymaker (in honor of Dr. Herbert Henley Haymaker) awards. Usually eight to ten sophomores or juniors are selected for the Most Promising Student Awards, and one graduating senior is chosen for the Haymaker Award. Students are nominated by the faculty, and the winners are chosen by a faculty committee whose selection criteria includes academic record, activities and achievements outside the classroom, and performance in an interview with the committee. Student winners are honored at a Saturday luncheon and receive an award plaque or certificate and cash awards.

H.H. Haymaker Award

The Haymaker Award is the highest honor bestowed on a student at Kansas State University by the Division of Biology. The faculty of the Division of Biology are excited to see what the future will bring for all the Haymaker awardees and are confident that they will continue to find success in their careers and endeavors.

The award was named in honor of Herbert Henley Haymaker, a K-State alumnus, Bachelor of Science in agronomy graduate and faculty member from 1917-1963. The award is given annually to one of more than 100 eligible seniors majoring in biology, fisheries, wildlife, conservation, and environmental biology, or microbiology, who has both an extraordinary level of accomplishment as an undergraduate, and the promise to continue such quality performance in a biological sciences-related career. Nomination and selection criteria include grades, rigor of academic program, extracurricular activities, recommendations by faculty, and performance in an interview.

As an undergraduate, Haymaker was an accomplished athlete who played quarterback and fullback on K-State's football team. As a faculty member, Haymaker's specialty was botany, but he also taught courses in math, psychology, economics, and sociology. Although interested in research, Haymaker preferred to work with students, serving as the Sigma Nu fraternity advisor and president of the area district of the Boy Scouts of America. In addition to teaching, he coached K-State's freshman football team in the mid-1930s for six years — for the additional pay of $25 per month — and also coached the basketball team for a time. In 1961 he was selected as an outstanding teacher by the K-State graduate faculty through the Faculty Lectureship program.

Sources for the article include Board Minutes, Sept. 14, 1935; K-State Collegian, Nov. 18, 1961; The K-Stater, April 1951 and June 1963; Manhattan Mercury, Oct. 9, 1964; Royal Purple, 1970, p. 56

Most Promising Student Award

The Most Promising Student Award is intended to encourage students who are early in their careers and have demonstrated enthusiasm, creativity and imagination in biologically-oriented courses and research. The award was created by biology faculty in 1975 and has been awarded annually since then. It is entirely funded by faculty to support excellent students. Students are nominated by the faculty and award recipients are chosen by a committee within the Division of Biology. Selection is based on faculty letters of recommendation, quality and quantity of classroom work and extracurricular accomplishments, and an interview with the selection committee.