Dr. Jim Diamond has been awarded the Pennsylvania Farm Bureaus 2021 Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award.
Retired Dean of Agriculture and Environmental Science at Delaware Valley University (DelVal), Jim Diamond has been awarded the Pennsylvania Farm Bureaus 2021 Outstanding Service to Agriculture Award. Diamond was presented with the award at the farm organization’s 71st Annual meeting in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The award is given to an individual whose dedication and service have significantly contributed towards the advancement of Pennsylvania agriculture.
It was truly an honor to be recognized with this prestigious award amongst the honorable and dedicated farmers and agricultural leaders that preceded me.When Dr. Diamond was told he had won, Dr. Diamond said, “Yes,” Dr. Diamond was born on his family’s cattle ranch in Fayette County. He received his undergraduate degree in 1961 from DelVal University and intended to return to the farm to start his cattle raising career. Dr. Diamond began reconsidering his decision after graduation.
Delaware Valley University prepared my for a career that went far beyond what I could have imagined. After 3.5 year of study, a new world of opportunities opened up for me. He explains, “This is why I never returned home to raise cattle.” Over his long career, Dr. Diamond was a vocational agricultural instructor at Upper Bucks County Area Vocational Technical School. An assistant professor at Penn State University, an international agricultural and Extension Education consultant for the United Nations, and a Peace Corps volunteer. He also served as DelVal’s Dean of Agriculture and Environmental Science from 1999 to 2008.
Since Delaware Valley University has been mysurrogatefamily for almost 60 years, I have been an integral part of the university’s faculty, administrators, and students. He said that DelVal allowed me to dream and helped make my dreams a reality. Jim was a sheep-farmer throughout his teaching career. He has also held board positions at multiple agricultural associations, including Bucks County Farm Bureau.
In addition, he spent two year in Chad, Africa, teaching farmers new and creative farming techniques during his time with Peace Corps. Through his work for the United Nations, he spent seven year traveling abroad to teach and discuss farm management strategies.
He states that he has traveled and worked in 59 different countries across five continents. Dr. Diamond has also published numerous instructional materials and journal articles, as well as seven prose poetry volumes that document his travels and experiences. He recounts his DelVal experience in a prelude of his poem, Alpha und Omega.
He writes, Being the Delaware Valley Dean for Agriculture and Environmental Science [University]It was a great capstone for me career because Delaware Valley [University]The Alpha and Omega of a remarkable 47-year journey was this couple [] [The poem Alpha and Omega]This article attempts to put in perspective a lifetime of dedication to humanity and agricultural education.
His time at DelVal and his many professional endeavors continue to have a lasting impact both on agriculture education and humankind. Everyone should have a dream that he or she hopes to realize at some point in his/her lives. My dreams were about helping people, both locally and internationally, in agriculture. He says that he hopes and prays that my career efforts will be a legacy that will benefit humanity in some way, leaving the planet a better place for future generations.
