Last month, Roger Ginder, an economist with the Iowa State Extension, was honored with the Meritorious Service Award.

Ginder received his award on Nov. 11 at the Iowa State Extension awards ceremony.

According to the press release, the Meritorious award is given to Iowa State Extension employees for significant achievements and educational contributions to clientele through dedication to duty and significant contributions to the mission of Iowa State Extension over time.

Mark Jost of the Iowa State Extension Communication Systems said that each summer the Extension employees are asked to nominate people for awards. “A committee in extension goes through a process of ranking and selecting a winner.”

The press release stated that Ginder’s co-workers saw that Ginder’s work with the Extension was fantastic in exemplifying the Extension’s mission by being client-centered and providing research-based, unbiased information and education.

As an economist with the Iowa State Extension, Ginder works with farmer and consumer cooperatives.

“Cooperatives are organizations founded by farmers. [Cooperatives] process farm products. It creates competition with investor-owned companies,” Ginder said.

According to the press release, Ginder has played an important part in helping cooperative members improve their incomes and the state of Iowa as a whole.

Ginder, who is originally from Illinois, received his master’s degree at Southern Illinois University and his Ph.D. at the University of Kentucky.

Ginder said that in 1978 he moved to Iowa to become an assistant professor at Iowa State in the economics department. Since that time, Ginder has moved on to work with Iowa State Extension.

Besides working with Iowa State Extension, the press release stated, Ginder has served as vice president of the American Institute for Cooperation. He also helped found the Journal for Cooperatives.

Ginder said he worked with the American Institute for Cooperatives for four years. He said he has been serving on the editorial board as the chair for about 10 years now. Ginder has also conducted Cooperative Director Certification workshops and testified before the U.S. Congress and Iowa legislature.