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CORVALLIS, Ore. - Stella Melugin Coakley, a professor of botany and plant pathology and associate dean for the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University, was honored as a fellow of the American Phytopathology Society at its annual meeting in Quebec City last week.

Internationally known for her research on the relationships among climate variation, global climate change and plant disease epidemics, Coakley's pioneering modeling work helped establish relationships between climate and plant disease epidemics on a regional scale.

Coakley earned her B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California-Davis. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder and then joined the faculty of the University of Denver.

In 1988, Coakley moved to OSU and served as head of the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology for more than 15 years until becoming associate dean in the College of Agricultural Sciences. She was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2000.