Retired Dean of Agriculture and Environmental Science for Delaware Valley University Receives Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award
Retired Dean of Agriculture and Environmental Science for DelVal, Dr. Jim Diamond, has received Pennsylvania Farm Bureau’s 2021 Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award
Retired Dean of Agriculture and Environmental Science for Delaware Valley University (DelVal), Dr. Jim Diamond, has received Pennsylvania Farm Bureau’s 2021 Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award. Diamond received the award during the farm organization’s 71st Annual Meeting in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The award is presented to an individual whose dedicated work and service have significantly contributed to the advancement of Pennsylvania agriculture.
“It was indeed a profound honor to be placed amongst those honorable and dedicated farmers and agricultural leaders who preceded me with this prestigious recognition,” said Dr. Diamond when told he had won. Dr. Diamond was born and raised on his family’s cattle farm in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. He earned his undergraduate degree from DelVal in 1961 and planned to return to the farm after graduation to begin his career raising cattle. When graduation finally arrived, Dr. Diamond began to reconsider.
“Delaware Valley University prepared me for a career that took me far, far beyond my wildest expectations. After 3.5 years of study there, a whole new world of employment opportunities became available. This is why I never returned to the farm to raise cattle,” he explains. Over his accomplished career, Dr. Diamond was a vocational agriculture instructor at Upper Bucks County Area Vocational Technical School, an assistant professor of agricultural education at Penn State University, an international agricultural and extension education consultant for the United Nations, a Peace Corps volunteer, and from 1999 until 2008, he served as the Dean of Agriculture and Environmental Science at DelVal.
“Being an integral part of Delaware Valley University for nearly 60 years with no family nearby, the faculty, administrators and students have become my surrogate family. DelVal caused me to dream and make my dreams come true,” he says. Throughout his teaching career, Jim was also a sheep farmer, and has held board positions with multiple agricultural associations, including Bucks County Farm Bureau.
Additionally, during his time with the Peace Corps he spent two years in Chad, Africa teaching farmers new and innovative farming techniques. Through his work with the United Nations, he spent seven years traveling abroad, teaching and discussing farm management strategies in China, Cuba, Bulgaria, Ethiopia, and other African countries.
“I have worked and traveled in 59 different nations on five continents,” he says. Dr. Diamond has also published multiple instructional booklets and materials, numerous journal articles, and seven “prose poetry” books documenting his travels and experiences. He describes his experience at DelVal in a prelude to his poem, “Alpha and Omega.”
He writes, “Being the Dean for Agriculture and Environmental Science at Delaware Valley [University] was a fantastic capstone for my career because Delaware Valley [University] was the Alpha and Omega of a magnificent 47-year journey […] [The poem ‘Alpha and Omega’] is an attempt to put into perspective a lifetime of devotion to humankind and agricultural education.”
Dr. Diamond’s time at DelVal, along with his many professional endeavors, continues to leave a lasting impact on agricultural education and humankind. “Everyone should have a dream with the aspiration to cause it to emerge at some point during his or her respective lives. My dreams focused on domestic and international agricultural endeavors that helped people help themselves. I hope and pray that my career efforts prevail into a legacy which in some way will benefit humankind, leaving our planet a better place to live for future generations,” he says.