Duane Huge (B.S., Agriculture (Agricultural Education), 1985) has been named a 2024 Purdue Agricultural Sciences Education and Communication Distinguished Alumnus.
Huge was an Agricultural Science and Business teacher for 38 years. He taught at Cloverdale Community Schools for 20 years and then at Danville Community School Corporation for 18 years before he retired July 2023. After retirement, Huge accepted the role of program coordinator for the Mentoring Indiana Beginning Agriculture Teachers (MI-BAT) program where he mentors and provides guidance to new agriculture teachers across Indiana.
Duane Huge (B.S., Agriculture (Agricultural Education), 1985) is program coordinator of the Mentoring Beginning Agriculture Teachers program and a retired agricultural science and education teacher. His interest in agriculture stems from growing up on a 1,200-acre grain and livestock farm near Monticello, Indiana, in White County. That experience led him to pursue and earn a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Education from Purdue University in 1985.
As a teacher, Huge taught many agriculture courses in plant science, animal science, horticulture science, natural resource management, agribusiness management, and landscape management.
Huge has been successful coaching FFA Career Development Event (CDE) teams in soils, horticulture, forestry, meats, livestock, dairy cattle, horse, floriculture, nursery and landscape, and leadership at the local, state, and national levels. He has coached individuals and teams that placed in the top 10 nationally. National winners include teams and individuals in soils, prepared public speaking, and FFA proficiency contests.
Huge advocated for agricultural education throughout his career by serving as chairman of Indiana FFA Board of Trustees, district representative on the Indiana 4-H/FFA Judging Committee, education consultant on the Hendricks County Farm Bureau Board of Directors, and president and vice president of the Cloverdale Community School Corporation School Board.
Huge was recognized with several awards during his career in education, including the National Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE) Region Young Member Award and NAAE Region Lifetime Achievement Award. He was a finalist for the Indiana Teacher of the Year Award in 2017 and received the Golden Owl Award, which is presented to the Indiana agricultural educator of the year, in 2023.
Huge currently resides on his 150-acre farm in Owen County with his wife Jane, where they raise corn, soybeans, and cattle along with some classified forest land. They enjoy attending Purdue football and basketball games and visiting their daughter, Mariah, in Pennsylvania, who followed in her mother’s footsteps as a Purdue Agriculture graduate in Animal Science.
The other 2024 ASEC Distinguished Alumni are Bryan Hains and James G. Myers.
The awards presentation will be 2 p.m. Friday, October 18, in Creighton Hall of Animal Sciences, room 1042. All are welcome to attend the ceremony and the reception that follows.
