Delvin Fanning Celebrates 50 Years of Service

May 18, 2014

On March 14, 2014, the graduate students, faculty and staff of the Department of Environmental Science and Technology gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Delvin S. Fanning joining the faculty. Del arrived in College Park after finishing his PhD in soil mineralogy under ML Jackson at the University of Wisconsin. He retired and became Emeritus Professor in 1999.

After presentation of a plaque from the department and a round of cake and toasts, Del regaled the audience with tales of early life on campus — the inception and emergence of the Geology Department from within the former Agronomy Department, the liming of acid sulfate soils on the then new varsity baseball field, the football coach who’s on-campus house was formerly HJ Patterson Hall’s nearest neighbor and who’s kids were frequent visitors to the soda vending machine in our hallway. For Del, soil mineralogy and pedology remain a focal point of interest, and he continues to teach a course on acid sulfate soils and to curate the Department’s extensive monolith collection.

We salute Del for his 50 years of service, and look forward to a future of continued activity in the Department!