Iowa’s Center for Agricultural Safety and Health (I-CASH) named Shari Burgus of Waukee, Iowa, and Michael Rosmann of Harlan, Iowa the 2010 recipients of its Agricultural Safety and Health Hall of Fame Award. The recipients were recognized at the Midwest Rural Agricultural Safety & Health forum banquet on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010.
Shari Burgus is the Education Director at Farm Safety 4 Just Kids (FS4JK), a nonprofit organization which promotes a safe farm environment to prevent health hazards, injuries and fatalities to children and youth. Joining FS4JK in 1991, she initiated the first chapter system and now develops educational materials and programs, including the “Great Grain Harvest” packet for educating youth about hazards associated with grain. Additional efforts range from offering family farm seminars to working on child safety interventions for Anabaptist audiences.
Burgus serves on numerous state and national agricultural safety and health initiatives including: I-CASH Advisory Committee (Chair), Children’s Agricultural Safety Network, and the National Institute for Farm Safety (NIFS) Professional Improvement Committee. Burgus grew up on an Iowa crop and livestock farm near Adel, Iowa. She has a Masters of Education degree from Iowa State University and a Specialist degree in Adult Education from Drake University.
Michael Rosmann is a clinical psychologist in agricultural behavioral health. He is known nationally as an advocate and spokesperson for better behavioral health care for agricultural producers. In 2001, Rosmann founded, and is currently Executive Director of, the AgriWellness, Inc. non-profit organization, which promotes accessible behavioral health services for the underserved and at-risk populations affected by rural crisis in agricultural communities. Previously he was a professor at the University of Virginia and the founding director of Prairie Rose Mental Health Center in Harlan.
From 1999-2000, Rosmann was the interim Associate Director of I-CASH and Research Associate at the University of Iowa College of Public Health. He has served on the I-CASH Board of Directors since 2000, and he on the faculty of I-CASH’s graduate continuing education course “Agricultural Medicine: Occupational and Environmental Health for the Rural Health Professions.”
Rosmann was raised on a farm in rural western Iowa. He received a BS in psychology from the University of Colorado, and an MS and PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Utah.
I-CASH created the Hall of Fame Award in 2002 as a lifetime achievement award for individuals or organizations that have made significant and lasting contributions to agricultural safety and health in Iowa.