Utah's Governor Honors Albion President 

The Governor’s Medal award was initiated in 1987 to recognize those who have made career achievements and/or provided distinguished service that has benefited the state of Utah in the area of Science and Technology. Specific criteria were developed to determine the significance of the contributions to the economic development of the State.

Nominations for this award are submitted to the Governor’s Office for Economic Development. The nominations are the reviewed by an 11-person committee which is appointed by the Governor. Finalists are selected by the committee and submitted to the Governor. He then picks the winner.

According to the Office for Economic Development, he was one of approximately 800 nominations for 2008. When he became a finalist, there was a call for recommendations for this award. Those submitting recommendations on Dr. Ashmead’s behalf were Dr. F. Ann Milner (President Weber State University), M. Wayne Western (Senior Partner Thorpe North and Western), Matthew Godfrey (Mayor Ogden City), Dr. Wayne Askew (Head of Division of Nutrition University of Utah), Tom Hanaran (Vice President Intermountain Health Care), and Edward Klein (Regional President Wells Fargo Bank).

In other news, Dr. Ashmead, was recently invited to give a Visiting Scholar Lecture sponsored by the Department of Health Science at Brigham Young University. The presentation, titled The Politics of Nutrition, was delivered to a packed auditorium at BYU. The lecture covered mineral fortification of foods and the problems associated with getting such programs adopted in countries around the world. It also addressed ways that innovations in nutrition have impacted the health of world communities.

Dr. Ashmead has been a featured speaker at various scientific and public health conferences in virtually every part of the world and is always willing to speak on issues related to improving the nutrition of our global community.