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Thomas E. Fenton is a pedologist and soil scientist who was a Professor at Iowa State University in Agronomy from 1966 to 2004. His contributions included work on assessing the productivity of Iowa soils, soil surveys, erosion's impact on soil productivity, water table and drainage in soils, and communicating about soil surveys to the general public.

Early life
Fenton was born on July 19, 1933 in Cabery, IL. He graduated from high school in 1951. He spent a year working at a local coop, and then at Joliet Arsenal for a year. He was in the military from 1953-1955 in Germany.

Fenton started college at Illinois State and transferred to University of Illinois to study agricultural science. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1959 at the University of Illinois, with high honors. During his undergraduate degree, he mapped the soil of LaSalle County, Illinois from 1957-1959. He then continued his studies at University of Illinois and received a Master of Science degree in 1960. While at the University of Illinois, he started as a student intern for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Soil Conservation Service, which allowed him to receive a job from the Soil Conservation Service when he moved to Ames, IA to pursue a Ph.D. In the summer months of his Ph.D., he worked as a research soil scientist for the USDA until 1964 when he came to be on the staff of Iowa State University as a Research Associate at the Agronomy Department. He completed his Ph.D. in 1966 from [Iowa State].

Career
His early career at Iowa State focused on the genesis of the Iowa landscape with Robert Ruhe in addition to using soils information to assess the productivity of the soil and making interpretative soil maps. He was an author on the formation of the Iowan Surface in 1968. Notable was his contribution in 1971 creating Iowa's Corn Suitability Rating.

Awards
He was elected fellow of the Soil Science Society of America in 1990, of the American Society of Agronomy in 1991, and to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1994. Also, he was the elected fellow at the Iowa Academy of Science in 1998. After his retirement in 2004, he spent time volunteering for Food at First, an Ames food bank and hot meal service to the community. He received the State of Iowa, Governor's Volunteer Award in 2012.

Retirement
After retiring from Iowa State University Thomas Fenton received the 2012 Iowa Governor's Volunteer Award for his service with a food distribution organization, Food at First.

http://www.iowafarmertoday.com/news/crop/isu-tweaks-csr/article_8c8f30b8-eeb7-11e4-a53f-27fa1988bd56.html

http://www.iowalivingmagazines.com/2014/04/30/filling-a-need-2/

http://magissues.farmprogress.com/WAL/WF07Jul13/wal010.pdf

Iowa Academy of Science President in 2003 - http://www.scienceiniowa.org/index-1-59-24