Department of Agricultural Economics presents alumni, service awards

April 30, 2019

Lincoln, Neb. — The Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln presented Mark Jensen and Ted Schroeder with 2019 Outstanding Alumni Awards at a banquet on April 24. The Hoegemeyer family received the 2019 Outstanding Service Award. 

Mark Jensen is the president and chief executive officer of Farm Credit Services of America/Frontier Farm Credit. He was raised on a dairy farm near Avoca and earned a bachelor’s degree in agribusiness from Nebraska in 1992. Following graduation, Jensen began his career with Farm Credit as a loan officer in Kearney. He has had a variety of roles with Farm Credit Services, including chief risk officer and senior vice president of enterprise risk management. Jensen is an inaugural member of the Clayton Yeutter Institute of International Trade and Finance advisory council.

Ted Schroeder is a university distinguished professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University. His is also the founding director of the Center for Risk Management, Education and Research at Kansas State. Schroeder’s accomplishments include serving as the major advisor for 66 graduate students, authoring 125 peer-reviewed journal articles and securing $8.5 million in grant funding. He is a past president and distinguished scholar of the Western Agricultural Economics Association. Schroeder was raised on a diversified livestock and grain farm near Lincoln. He holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Nebraska and a doctoral degree from Iowa State University.  

Tom, Linda, Christian and Erik Hoegemeyer established the Hoegemeyer Family Scholarship in 2011. The $3,500 scholarship is given annually to a student or students in the Department of Agricultural Economics. It is awarded based on financial need, academic achievement and leadership. The Hoegemeyer family has extensive connections to the university. With a doctoral degree in plant breeding from Nebraska and support from his wife, Linda, also a UNL graduate, Tom returned to the family business in Hooper and built Hoegemeyer Seeds into one of the foremost independent research seed companies. Tom and Linda’s children, Christian and Erik are both graduates of the Department of Agricultural Economics. Erik served as president of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources Alumni Association.

 The Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is engaged in research, teaching, and outreach in agricultural production, natural resources, rural development and industrial organization. Visit the department’s website at agecon.unl.edu.