Ricky Telg, director of the UF/IFAS Center for Public Issues Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources and a professor in the UF/IFAS Department of Agricultural Education and Communication (AEC), was honored June 17 by the nation’s premier professional association for agriculture and natural resource communications for career-long excellence in the field.
About ACE and the ACE Fellow Award
The Association for Communication Excellence (ACE) is an association of professionals who practice in all areas of communication. Members include public relations professionals, webmasters, photographers, writers and many more. The ACE Fellow award is the organization’s most prestigious honor, recognizing sustained excellence and professionalism in a communicator. ACE Fellows are role models who have had an enduring impact on the organization, their institution, the national land-grant system and the profession of agricultural communications.
Impact on Agricultural Communication
Telg joined the AEC faculty at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences in 1995. Throughout his 30 years of teaching, he has helped prepare generations of communicators for careers in advocacy, communications, journalism and association leadership. Within the AEC graduate program, Telg has advised multiple master’s and doctoral students, including Madison Dyment, a recent AEC Ph.D. graduate and current assistant professor of agricultural communication at New Mexico State University.
“It’s a really beautiful thing when I’m teaching my own students and hear myself echo something I heard so many times from him in his own classes, like passing down a legacy,” said Dyment. “It’s hard to name an area of our profession that he hasn’t touched or shaped in some way.”
Telg has served ACE in numerous leadership roles over his 34 years as a member, including as president in 2024.
“Many of us have had the privilege of knowing Ricky in multiple capacities, as a professor, colleague, board member, mentor and friend, and have experienced firsthand his remarkable ability to lead, encourage and inspire. His dedication to ACE and his investment in people has strengthened our organization immeasurably, making ACE a better place for all of us,” said Stacey Stearns, immediate-past president of ACE and senior communications specialist for the University of Connecticut Extension.
Research and Extension
His research has delivered insights into consumer and stakeholder perceptions through surveys and moment-by-moment audience reactions to video stimuli in the PIE Center lab. His Extension work has provided industry leaders with information on how their industries are perceived and citizens with timely guidance on a wide range of public health, agricultural and natural resource topics.
“The PIE Center’s national prestige contributes to the overall standing of UF/IFAS as one of the nation’s most impactful agriculture and natural resource programs,” said Scott Angle, UF/IFAS senior vice president. “Telg’s leadership has been essential in guiding and inspiring a talented team in its teaching, research and Extension work.”
Telg has led the PIE Center since 2014 and is currently leading Optimizing IFAS — a statewide project to solicit input on how IFAS is perceived and what it can do to better serve producers, citizens and communities.
“No one is more deserving of this award. Dr. Telg represents the foundation of the principles on which agricultural communication was built. He lifts up emerging communicators and guides new students into the profession while seeking excellence in his work and the work of others,” said Lauri Baker, UF/IFAS AEC professor and PIE Center affiliate faculty.
Legacy
Telg’s legacy continues to inspire the next generation of agricultural communicators. During his acceptance speech, he spoke about what students often ask him: what makes someone a successful communicator.
“They expect me to talk about digital cameras, strategy, analytics, branding, social media trends, or emerging technology. And yes, those things matter, but great communication starts with people. The best communicators approach their audience not as a demographic, but as human beings. The best communicators help others feel heard,” Telg said to an audience of nationwide communicators who gave him a standing ovation at the ACE annual conference in Billings, Montana.
About Dr. Ricky Telg:
Ricky Telg is a professor in the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication and the Director of the Center for Public Issues Education. He previously worked as a television reporter, newspaper reporter and editor, and video producer for Texas A&M University’s Department of Agricultural Communications. He also taught journalism and broadcast production at Texas A&M. Ricky is faculty adviser for the UF/Agricultural Communicators and Leaders of Tomorrow and served as the faculty adviser for the National ACT organization for five years. He received Teacher of the Year honors in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences in 1997 and 2011, and CALS Advisor of the Year in 2000 and 2014. Ricky is also an active member of the Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences.
His research interests include agricultural communication (television/video production, print media, and media relations) and distance education (instructional design, instructional media).
ABOUT UF/IFAS PIE CENTER
The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Center for Public Issues Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (PIE Center) conducts and disseminates objective interdisciplinary research and educational programs to increase public understanding of and engagement in agricultural and natural resources issues.
