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K-State Today

March 8, 2023

Owensby honored by Society for Range Management's most prestigious award

Submitted by Kathy Gehl

Clenton Owensby, Professor of Range Management in the Department of Agronomy

Clenton E. Owensby, professor of range management in the agronomy department at Kansas State University, received the Frederic G. Renner Award at the Society for Range Management's 76th annual meeting in Boise, Idaho earlier this February. Owensby is a life member of the society. 

The Renner Award is the most prestigious award bestowed by the Society for Range Management and was made possible by a generous contribution from Frederic G. Renner, a Charter and Life member, and the society's second president. The award is presented with the belief that such recognition will foster better use of rangeland resources and a broader understanding of the contributions that these resources make to the welfare of all people.

During his 55-year career, Owensby has taught more than 7,000 students in range-related courses, including advising 16 master's students and four doctoral students. He developed the first video course on range management and established K-State's Kling L. Anderson Range Science Lectureship, which recognizes leading range scientists around the U.S. Owensby was also responsible for the acquisition and development of the Hilas Bay and Emma Browning Rannells Flint Hills Prairie Preserve.

In the Society for Range Management, Owensby has served on the Range Science Education Council, been a plenary speaker at an annual meeting and published more than 40 articles in the Journal of Range Management, Rangelands, and Rangeland Ecology and Management. He has been previously honored by the society with the Outstanding Achievement Award in 1989, W.R. Chapline Research Award in 2004, Range Science Education Undergraduate Teaching in 2018 and Lifetime Achievement Award 2022.