Hairston Receives Distinguished Service Award


Auburn, Nov. 3, 2003 --- Dr. James Hairston, Alabama Cooperative Extension System water 
quality scientist and Auburn University professor of agronomy and soil science, recently received 
the 2003 Distinguished Service Award from the Alabama Chapter of Epsilon Sigma Phi.

Epsilon Sigma Phi is a national Extension honorary fraternity whose mission is “to foster 
standards of excellence in the Extension System and to develop the Extension profession.”

Hairston was recognized for his work in water quality education since his arrival at Auburn 
University in 1989.

In the course of his career, Hairston has written more than 300 publications, not including popular 
articles featured in newspapers, magazines and trade journals.  Hairston has lectured extensively 
on water quality-related issues.  In 2002, for example, he gave 42 presentations, including three 
at the national level and 13 at the regional and state levels.  

Recognized as one of the land-grant university system’s leading experts in drinking water quality 
as it relates to human health, Hairston has written for and been quoted widely in newspapers and 
has appeared frequently on television to discuss water-related issues.  

Hairston serves as Extension’s coordinator for the Alabama Water Quality Program, a national 
partnership of university scientists, instructors and Extension professionals working to increase 
public awareness of water quality-related issues and to address ever-changing water quality 
needs.

As part of this program, Hairston recently spearheaded an effort to create a comprehensive Web 
site for water quality information in Alabama.  The site, which contains the largest online glossary 
of water quality-related terms found anywhere on the Web and an exhaustive database of 
frequently asked questions about water, already has developed into one of the nation’s most 
comprehensive sources for water quality-related information.  The site is frequently used by 
freelance writers for background information about water quality and by scholars from around the 
world to develop educational materials for both national and international conferences. 

He also helped develop several sections of the National Water Quality Web site.

In addition, Hairston coordinated the development of a geographic information systems laboratory 
in the Department of Agronomy and Soils as a resource for Extension education and Alabama 
Agricultural Experiment Station research efforts.  Along with 23 other organizations and agencies, 
Hairston lobbied successfully for the creation of the Alabama GIS Council by executive order of 
the governor in 2001.  He currently represents the Alabama Cooperative Extension System on 
this council.  

An Alabama native, Hairston is a graduate of Berry College, where he received his bachelor’s 
degree in chemistry and math in 1968.  A Vietnam veteran, he earned his doctorate in agronomy 
and soils from the University of Georgia in 1978 after completion of his military service.

Before coming to Auburn, Hairston was a faculty member in the agronomy department at 
Mississippi State University.