The John and Olga LeTourneau Memorial Lectureshipin in Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

The endowment was established in 1987 by Phyllis and Duane LeTourneau as a memorial to his parents.  Because their opportunities for a formal education ended at the grade school level, John and Olga LeTourneau desired more for their son. Their encouragement and sacrifices made it possible for Duane to obtain a college education and subsequently complete the Ph.D. degree at the University of Minnesota.

Phyllis and Duane moved to Moscow in 1953 when he accepted a position as an assistant professor and Assistant Agricultural Chemist in the Department of Agricultural Chemistry. One of Duane’s teaching assignments was to organize and teach a senior/graduate level course in Plant Biochemistry for students majoring in Biochemistry and various areas in plant science.  The course content emphasized the metabolism and role of secondary plant products in higher plants. The course, taught in alternate years, first offered in the fall semester of 1955 and last taught by Duane in 1989. During his UI career Duane taught a number of other courses. But Plant Biochemistry was his favorite course to teach. In January 1990 Duane left the Department of Microbiology, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry (MMBB) to become the Secretary of the Faculty. He Retired as Professor of Biochemistry and Chemistry Emeritus and secretary of the Faculty Emeritus on August 31, 1991. He then returned to the Department to teach on a part-time basis, to edit “The Promoter”, the Department newsletter, and serve on Departmental and University Committees. He maintained an office on campus until December 2001. Duane attended each of the first 15 lectures and interacted with the speakers. Phyllis passed away April 5, 2011 and Duane died June 3, 2013, at the age of 86.

The endowment provides for inviting an outstanding scientist to the University of Idaho campus to deliver a lecture, and to meet with undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty.  The topics of the lectureship were initially focused on the metabolism and function of secondary plant products. Since 2007, the topics have been expanded to cover exciting research achievements in the fields of plant biochemistry, plant molecular biology, and plant genetics and genomics. In 1993 the department of MMBB presented the first “John and Olga LeTourneau Memorial Lectureship”. After the reorganization of the MMBB department in 2011, the department of Plant, Soil and Entomological Sciences (PSES) hosted the Lectureship. Since 2017, the department of Plant Sciences has served as the host of the lectureship.