AACC International Raymond J. Tarleton Graduate Fellowship

The AACC International Raymond J. Tarleton Graduate Fellowship supports a graduate fellowship of $2,000, permanently endowed since 2003.

As Executive Vice president of AACC International for 41 years, Ray Tarleton helped AACC International become the premier organization it is today.

In March of 1950, Raymond J. Tarleton, a graduate student in the Department of Agricultural Biochemistry at the University of Minnesota, was hired by AACC International as a part-time combination technical editor and business manager. Ray quickly became integral to the association and good friends with many of the members.

Ray’s contributions to AACC International are numerous. He proposed, to some debate, the concept of Cereal Science Today (now Cereal Foods World), a journal with emphasis on applied science and association news.

Ray oversaw the growth of the association and the staff supporting it. Ray was key in bringing together AACC International with the American Phytopathological Society, a society with which AACC International shares resources. He had the foresight to place AACC International’s new headquarters in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota, where it has remained since 1971. Ray was honored with the William F. Geddes Memorial Award, recognizing his unselfish contributions to AACC International. He maintained a closeness with the membership of the society, allowing him to deliver what the members needed.

After Ray retired in 1991, he and his wife Andy wanted to give back to the profession that meant so much to the Tarleton family. They decided to include the AACC International Foundation in their estate plan, and, when Andy passed away, the Tarleton graduate fund was established to help worthy students achieve an education in the grains field.