Texas A&M leader receives American Society for Horticultural Science honor

Daniel Lineberger, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Horticultural Sciences, was recently honored with the inaugural Outstanding Leadership and Administration Award from the American Society for Horticultural Science, ASHS.

Lineberger was recognized at the ASHS Awards Program, which was held virtually this year. This was the first year the ASHS bestowed this award, which is meant to recognize administrators whose sustained, outstanding contributions have advanced professional horticulture.

According to ASHS leadership, it was important the inaugural recipient “epitomize the spirit of service and leadership and be a professional who has set a high bar in administrative abilities and contributions.”   

Advancing horticulture

“Dan Lineberger is certainly most deserving of this award,” said Patrick J. Stover, Ph.D., vice chancellor of Texas A&M AgriLife, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director of Texas A&M AgriLife Research. “He has garnered positive national and international attention for our horticulture department. He has also been at the forefront of using web-based technology for teaching and to expand and enhance our horticultural research and programming.”   

Lineberger has helped develop numerous digital resources for horticulture and has advocated for integrating web technology into teaching, research and extension programming across all horticultural disciplines. To that end, he developed the Aggie Horticulture website, a gateway to more than two dozen virtual information servers and more than 50 web-accessible, interactive databases.

“The internet has revolutionized the way the land-grant system provides information to growers, accelerated the rate of scientific information exchange, and revolutionized the way teachers teach and students learn,” Lineberger said. “It’s imperative that graduate students and undergraduates alike include web technology as part of their preparation for a profession in the horticultural sciences.”

Sharing recognition

In his acceptance, Lineberger thanked the society and shared credit for the award.  

“This is a great honor, and I’m truly appreciative,” Lineberger said. “Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with many capable land-grant system administrators at ASHS and have learned from them. I also have to thank the faculty in the Department of Horticultural Sciences for their many contributions.”         

Lineberger was on the faculty at Ohio State University and headed the Clemson University horticulture department before coming to Texas A&M University in 1990. He earned his bachelor’s degree at North Carolina State University and his master’s and doctoral degrees at Cornell University.

During his career, Lineberger has received dozens of grants and gift support for his horticultural work. He has also been published in dozens of peer-reviewed and editor-reviewed journals and has written book chapters. In addition, he has authored numerous AgriLife Research and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service publications. 

Lineberger has received many other awards and honors over his career. Some of his recent awards include the Vice Chancellor’s Award in Excellence for Administration;  Vice Chancellor’s Award in Excellence, Extension Team Category, for the Texas Superstar Plant Trialing Program; Paul Smeal Leadership and Administration Award, Southern Region American Society for Horticultural Science; and Outstanding Alumni Award, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, North Carolina State University.

He is a member of the American Society for Horticultural Science, International Society for Horticultural Science and Pi Alpha Xi.