ADS Department Head Letter

Honoring the Past and Training Students for the Future

In this issue of the Animal and Dairy Science Department’s Newsletter, we’re sharing information on Dr. Larry Guthrie’s Georgia Farm Bureau Commodity Award, which honored his dedication to the dairy industry through the dissemination of scientifically validated dairy science practices for more than five decades. Dr. Guthrie’s dedication to dairy farmers and the Land Grant Mission sets a standard that all of us working in academia should strive to achieve. 

Dr. Jillian Bohlen was recognized as the National Outstanding Advisor for the American Dairy Science Association at this summer’s National meeting. Impressively, she was nominated by her students and selected by a national student and peer committee, Dr. Bohlen’s commitment to student excellence and promotion of their experiences within the dairy industry earned her this prestigious award. As you will read in this newsletter, several students won prestigious awards, too.

Drs. Steven Stice and Franklin West have been awarded multiple grants this year from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) totaling $1.1 million to study traumatic brain injuries, including strokes. This work demonstrates how animal scientists are uniquely trained to work in areas outside of traditional agriculture to address socially important diseases.

Muhammad Junaid Nawaz is a doctoral graduate student in the Department of Animal and Dairy Science, University of Georgia (UGA). Muhammad enrolled for his Ph.D. in the spring of 2022 with a research focus on Meat Science under the supervision of Prof. Alexander M Stelzleni. As a graduate in Animal and Dairy Science, we are proud of Muhammad for being one of only two graduate students awarded the C. Boyd Ramsey Reciprocal Meat Conference Scholar Award this year.

Our UGA Meat Judging Team is off to a great start again this year! They were the High Team Overall at the Iowa State University Meat Judging Contest! This is the team’s second win for the judging season. The team dominated as they were named high team in beef judging, lamb judging, pork judging and questions while also being named second high team in placings and third high team in beef grading.

The diversity of our department is one of the true strengths of the department. Our people are working on solving societal issues in the areas of human disease, food safety, animal production and welfare. Our students are afforded the opportunity to work in these areas with undergraduate research, or they may choose to learn about other cultures and their agriculture through our study abroad programs. Finally, the opportunity to represent the University of Georgia on an Intercollegiate Judging Team is a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn tremendous decision making and time management skills, while making lifelong friends and meeting leaders in animal agriculture and allied industries.

Sincerely,

Francis Fluharty