Mississippi State University honored Will D. Carpenter as the 2003 National Alumnus of the Year at the Alumni Association’s Annual Leadership Banquet last Friday night.
Carpenter had no idea he was going to receive the award at the banquet.
“They plotted with my wife, and she told me I had to be there, so I did as I was told (laughs). I was as dumb as an Ole Miss fox in a trap who chewed off three legs before he figured out which one was in the trap.”
A Moorhead, Miss., native and MSU graduate, Carpenter has a long history of accomplishments and service to the university.
Carpenter transferred to MSU as a sophomore from Sunflower Junior College which has since been renamed Mississippi Delta Community College.
Carpenter graduated from MSU in 1952 with a degree in agronomy. He said he chose MSU because his father attended the university from 1903-1908.
As a student, Carpenter served in the naval reserve. Upon graduation Carpenter saw duty in Korea along side many fellow students with the U.S. Army’s 750th infantry division.
Three weeks after returning home, Carpenter attended Purdue University, where he received his master’s and doctoral degrees in plant physiology.
Carpenter worked as a research biochemist with the St. Louis-based Monsanto Company for 34 years. With Monsanto, he developed Roundup™, a popular and environmentally safe herbicide used on hundreds of millions of acres around the world.
MSU President Dr. Charles Lee has known Carpenter for many years. They were both members of the National Council for Agriculture while Lee was at Texas A&M.
“Will Carpenter’s vision and energy was a pioneering force in the application of biotechnology techniques to the improvement of cotton, soybeans and other crops which support our nation’s economy and food supply. He is a very important member of the agricultural community,” Lee said.
While at Monsanto, Carpenter received MSU’s Agricultural Alumni Achievement Award and in 1991 was named the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Alumni Fellow.
After a career of accomplishments, Carpenter retired from Monsanto in 1992 as vice president and general manager of the company’s new product line.
Carpenter has 25 years of experience with the United Nations and the U.S. government as an advocate against chemical warfare. He gained international acclaim as head of a global committee which developed a treaty to ban chemical weapons. He was an advisor to the U.S. government during negotiations concerning the treaty.
He has traveled to 173 countries and is very well-known in the global community.
In 1992 the American Association for the Advancement of Science awarded Carpenter the Hilliard Roderick Prize in Science, Arms Control and International Security.
Carpenter has held several positions at Mississippi State University. Upon retiring from Monsanto, Carpenter spent three years as an executive-in-residence with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at MSU. He has served on the MSU Science and Technology board.
Carpenter worked with the MSU foundation for four years where he helped raise funds to enhance the University’s learning experience.
In 1997 he was named Alumnus of the Year for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. In 1999, he gave the commencement at MSU’s graduation ceremony.
Carpenter has made many vital contributions to our University; he has not forgotten his alma mater.
“He (Carpenter) is very contributing and has given back to MSU very generously,” said Lee.
At the Mississippi state legislature, he successfully lobbied for MSU to receive additional biotechnology research funds.
Carpenter helped MSU obtain $300,000 in greenhouse equipment from the Monsanto Company.
Carpenter also created a scholarship, The Will D. Carpenter Endowed Scholarship. It is a private, $10,000 scholarship, available to exceptional transfer students from Mississippi Delta Community College.
MSU student and scholarship recipient, Royann Long, from Belzoni, Miss., transferred to MSU from Mississippi Delta Community College in 2001 as a junior.
Long is a senior majoring in animal and dairy science and a first year veterinary student. A 4H Club volunteer and a National Junior Swine Association member, she said she plans to work in the livestock industry when she graduates in 2006.