The Kansas State University College of Agriculture has selected Kansas Department of Agriculture Assistant Secretary Jim Riemann as the college's 2012 Alumni Fellow.

Each year, the twelve colleges at K-State select fellows who return to campus to discuss current business and industry trends and to meet informally with students and faculty. The program is sponsored by the K-State Alumni Association, the president's office and the Deans Council.

The fellows were chosen based on their high levels of professional accomplishment and distinguished service in their respective careers, said Andrea Bryant Gladin, director of alumni programs for the K-State Alumni Association and organizer of Alumni Fellows Week.

Jim Riemann left retirement in 2011 to serve as Assistant Secretary of the Kansas Department of Agriculture. Riemann leads the Agricultural and Business Services Division at the Department of Agriculture, which includes the laboratory, dairy, food safety and lodging, meat and poultry inspection, plant protection and weed control, pesticide and fertilizer and agriculture marketplace protection.

"Jim's technical mindset and industry experience is a tremendous asset to Kansas agriculture," said Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Dale Rodman. "He's a true leader for the industry and a excellent choice for this honor."

Prior to retirement, Riemann served eight years as the president of Certified Angus Beef. He is also a former director of beef research and development for Excel Corporation in Wichita, Kan. and was also an associate professor in the Food Technology & Science Department at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

Riemann is one of the industry's leading authorities on steam pasteurization of beef carcasses. He earned three degrees from K-State — a bachelor's degree in agricultural education in 1966, a master's degree in animal science in 1973 and Ph.D. in food science in 1974.

For more information about the 2012 K-State Alumni Fellows visit http://www.k-state.edu/media/newsreleases/feb12/alumfellows22212.html.