Leon Kainer Endowed Scholarship in Agriculture and Life Sciences Established at Texas A&M
COLLEGE STATION – A former student has endowed a scholarship in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to honor his vocational agriculture teacher. Dr. and Mrs. Wayne W. Hanna from Chula, Ga., have established the Leon Kainer Endowed Scholarship through the Texas A&M Foundation.This $25,000 gift will provide one or more scholarships a year to a full-time student, in good standing, pursing a degree in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University in College Station.
The scholarship is for incoming freshmen who attended high school in Fayette County or neighboring counties of Lavaca, Colorado, Austin, Washington, Lee, Bastrop and Gonzalez.
It was established to recognize Kainer, who graduated from Texas A&M in 1946 and was a vocational agriculture teacher at Flatonia High School, in Flatonia from 1956 to 1970.
Kainer encouraged high school students to be their best, work hard and reach beyond their present circumstances; his compassion for students and interest in them was easily recognized, Hanna said.
“I would like to recognize a man that had a positive influence on students and saw to it that I was enrolled at Texas A&M in 1962,” Hanna said.
“It is great to see that Dr. and Mrs. Hanna have established the endowed scholarship to recognize the work of Leon Kainer,” said Dr. Joe Townsend, associate dean for student development in agriculture and life sciences.
“Students at A&M today have many of the traits Mr. Kainer helped develop in them during the high school years; work ethic, a positive code of conduct and caring for others,” Townsend said. “A&M students will benefit from this endowment and work to make their mark on the world.”
Hanna received a bachelor’s of science degree in agricultural education in 1966, a master’s of science in plant breeding in 1968 and a doctorate in genetics in 1970, all from Texas A&M. He is currently a professor of crop and soil sciences at the University of Georgia.
During his career, Hanna has developed and released leading Bermuda turfgrasses used around the world, including: TifSport for golf fairways, TifEagle for golf greens and TifBlair, a hardy low-maintenance grass. Hanna has been inducted into the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service Hall of Fame.
For more information about this endowment, contact Jody Ford, Texas A&M Foundation, 979-847-9314, j-ford@tamu.edu.
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