The Paul A. Funk Awards are usually celebrated at a banquet every April. The pandemic shut down the banquet this year, so we want to recognize CEOS collaborators who would have been honored.
Assistant Professor Jonathan Coppess received the John Clyde and Henrietta Downey Spitler Teaching Award, which recognizes outstanding instruction at the University of Illinois. Dr. Coppess has taught in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics since 2011, specializing in law and policy for farmers and the agricultural industry.
Jonathan’s teaching extends from the university classroom to Illinois Extension, reaching everyone from students to farmers all over the Midwest. He is a key contributor to the farmdoc and Policy Matters Extension publications, and Jonathan is a frequent and highly sought after speaker at state and national agricultural policy conferences and industry meetings. Policy makers appreciate Jonathan’s unique ability to blend scholarly acumen with real-world knowledge of the legislative and regulatory process, and he is recognized as an educational leader among lawyers with his recent selection as Chair of the Agricultural Law Section Council of the Illinois State Bar Association.
In his teaching and writing, Jonathan regularly tackles many sensitive topics, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on agriculture, environmental performance of agriculture, trade, and crop insurance programs, in a manner that educates the audience about the issues and stimulates careful discussion of the best policy options. Jonathan represents the best of education through public service in the land grant tradition.