Distinguished Alumni

Dr. Joseph H. Bouton (Bachelor of Science in Agronomy 1972) is the Distinguished Fellow for the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences. The Leland, Mississippi native also earned a bachelor's in physical education from MSU in 1970 and his master's and doctorate degrees from the University of Florida, in 1974 and 1977, respectively. Mr. Bouton grew up on a family farm in the Mississippi Delta where his family farmed cotton and soybeans. He served as a crop and soil sciences professor at the University of Georgia for 27 years. Dr. Bouton's academic and research efforts focused on crop breeding, genetics, and forage management. In 2004, he became Founding Director of the Forage Improvement Division and Senior Vice President at the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation (now Noble Research Institute) in Ardmore, Oklahoma. In 2012, he founded Bouton Consulting Group, LLC to review private and public forage research programs nationally and internationally. He sought to help farmers by developing better forage and bioenergy varieties, releasing 30 varieties, with 12 still in commercial production. He and his wife, Mary Jeanne, also an MSU alumnus, created the Mary Jeanne and Joseph Bouton Endowed Scholarship in 2018. The Boutons have three children and six grandchildren. They are avid supporters of MSU's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, College of Education, and M-Club Association.