Pioneer Member

Terri Long – I am currently a full professor in Wendy’s former department, the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at NC State University, and I literally would not be here today if not for Wendy’s advocacy and support. I met Wendy when I was postdoc in Philip Benfey’s lab at Duke University. There is a strong plant molecular biology community in North Carolina and, as a postdoc, I was fortunate enough to have several opportunities to present my postdoctoral work to Wendy and other NCSU faculty, including Becky Boston throughout my time at Duke. Thus, when I went on the job market Wendy and Becky both strongly advocated for me to their colleagues at NCSU to recruit me to NCSU as an Assistant Professor. Her mentorship does not stop there. Once I came to NC State I ended up teaching her plant physiology class the year she retired. She generously gave me all of the notes and information to teach that class and even came to that first class and introduced me in such as way that really set the stage for me feel comfortable and confident with teaching. I still teach this class today, with many of her notes and insights as inspiration. To this day she still sends me interesting articles to share with the class and keeps up my research efforts and mentoring. I know that I can reach out to her anytime for advice, feedback, and most importantly, a word of encouragement. I cannot overstate the role that Wendy has played in my life, my career and career of many others. She is most deserving of this recognition.