Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences
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Dr. C.E. Caviness — 1923-2006 Charles Ellis “Chuck” Caviness, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences, died March 1 at Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville. Dr. Caviness was 83. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Maxine, his son, Ron, and daughter-in-law, Linda Kaye (Musick) Caviness of Bentonville, and two granddaughters. (The following is from an article by Martha Davis published in the 2001 "CSES ALUMNI NEWS" when Dr. Caviness was named Outstanding Graduate of the department.) Outstanding Graduate Dr. Charles Caviness Typically, we think of Dr. Chuck Caviness as a professor, but he's also an alumnus of this department and one that we are most proud of. In fact, it was students from his undergraduate days that brought the department into being. Caviness was born and reared on a small farm near Hazen, AR. He served in the Navy during WWII in the South Pacific and then enrolled at Arkansas A&M at Monticello for one year before coming to the University where he graduated with a BS in agriculture in 1949. There was no Department of Agronomy then - just Agriculture. After graduation, Chuck began his career as a Research Assistant at the Cotton Branch Station and then served about 4 years as an agronomist with the Arkansas Agricultural Mission in Panama. He returned to the U of A to complete his MS in Crops in 1956. He then became an instructor in the rather newly established Agronomy Department, and his career as Arkansas' Mr. Soybean had begun. He took leave from this faculty to complete a PhD in Plant Breeding and Genetics at the University of Missouri in 1963, and for the next 30 years he conducted soybean research, taught plant breeding and production courses, and advised graduate students. Dr. Caviness has had numerous accomplishments during his long career. He introduced new rice varieties and improved production practices that increased rice yields in Panama, and he developed a synthetic corn variety. His major research accomplishments were in his development of nine high-yielding, disease- and nematode-resistant soybean varieties. He and his coworkers developed varieties with resistance to Phytophthora root rot and cyst nematodes that made it possible to profitably produce soybean on about 2 million acres of heavy clay soils that previously were not suited to this crop. Varieties that Caviness developed, particularly 'Davis', were grown widely in other southern states and foreign countries. In conjunction with Dr. Walter Fehr at Iowa State, Chuck designed a description of the “Stages of Soybean Development” that is widely used by researchers, growers, hail adjusters, and others concerned with stages of growth. Their publication has been translated into several languages and used in many parts of the world. According to Current Contents, that publication is a Classic Citation, one of the most often cited of all publications. Dr. Caviness served as major professor for about 50 MS and PhD students, most of whom now hold their own responsible positions, but many still look to Caviness when they need to discuss breeding and genetics of soybean. The list of awards that Dr. Caviness has received for faculty achievement, research, and service to producers and industry is too long for this brief account, but among these honors are The Annual Faculty Achievement Award for Research from the U of A, Progressive Farmer Man of the Year, and the Prosoja Award for outstanding contributions to world soybean research. He was made a Fellow in the American Society of Agronomy in 1980 and elected to the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame in 1991. Chuck Caviness retired officially 10 years ago to get in a little more fishing and spend time with his wife Maxine, son Ron and daughter-in-law Linda, but you can't keep a good man down. He comes to the office most work days for 2 or 3 hours, reviews manuscripts, keeps up with what's going on in soybean breeding, and contributes to the department in a variety of ways. We can look far and wide and see many deserving alumni, but none that deserves to be named our outstanding graduate any more than the one here at home, Dr. Chuck Caviness. |