ADSA Midwest Branch
2007 Officer Nominations
Hugh Chester-Jones was born in the United Kingdom. He attended Harper Adams Agricultural College, where he received a national diploma in agriculture with distinction in animal husbandry (1969) and a college diploma in agricultural marketing and business administration (1970). He gained an additional 5 years of experience in the practical and commercial agricultural industry before moving to the United States in 1975. He completed a BS degree in animal science at the University of Massachusetts in 1978 and MS (1982) and PhD (1985) degrees in ruminant nutrition at Virginia Tech. During his graduate program, Chester-Jones was on staff as an agricultural supervisor in the animal science department (1979–1985), where he had responsibilities for managing an animal nutrition research farm, coordinating graduate student research, and conducting collaborative research projects on the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station Research Farms. In 1985, Chester-Jones joined the faculty of the Southern Research and Outreach Center (SROC) and is currently an associate professor of animal science with a split appointment between 50% research/management and 50% outreach/extension. His research interests include dairy and beef production systems focusing on management, nutrition, health, and growth of dairy calves from birth, raised as heifer replacements, or raised as dairy beef. He is a supervisor of the SROC commercial calf- and heifer-raising research and extension facility and is a member of the University of Minnesota dairy and beef extension teams. He is a member of ASAS, ADSA, ARPAS, and the Professional Dairy Heifer Growers Association (PDHGA). He has served in leadership roles for PDHGA educational programs and the regional dairy management project NC-1119. He is an ad hoc reviewer for the Journal of Dairy Science and Journal of Animal Science. He currently serves as the chair of the 2007 ADSA/ASAS/PSA Growth and Development Symposium. Chester-Jones has authored or co-authored 27 refereed journal papers, 82 abstracts, 163 invited proceedings and conference papers, and 90 experiment station/extension reports. Chester-Jones has contributed to local 4-H and FFA Alumni Chapters and other community volunteer activities. He and his wife Ann have 2 daughters, Angharad (26) and Rhonwen (22).
ADSA Midwest Branch
2007 Officer Nominations
Candidate for ADSA Secretary-Treasurer
J. W. Schroeder
J. W. Schroeder is assistant professor and extension dairy specialist in the Department of Animal and Range Sciences at North Dakota State University. Schroeder earned his BS and PhD degrees at North Dakota State University and his MS degree at Colorado State University. After serving an extended period in several North Dakota counties as an extension agent, Schroeder became assistant to the director of the North Dakota State University Extension Service in 1981 and was then promoted to extension dairy specialist in 1992 and additionally to assistant professor in 2000.
Schroeder holds memberships in the American Dairy Science Association, Epsilon Sigma Phi, and the Professional Dairy Heifer Growers Association.
In 2004, Schroeder was awarded the Milk Producers Association of North Dakota Milky Way Award. In 2002, he was a nominee for the North Dakota State University Faculty/Staff AGSCO Excellence Award (Senior Career), and in 2001, he received the North Dakota State University Extension Service Program Excellence Award. In 2000, he received the Merit Award from the Milk Producers Association of North Dakota.
Schroeder has characterized his professional mission as follows: to conduct extension education and research relevant to the dairy and livestock industries in North Dakota and the region with the intent to improve profitability, increase efficiency, protect the environment, and enhance the quality of life.
ASAS Midwestern Section
ADSA Midwest Branch
2007 Officer Nominations
Shawn S. Donkin
Shawn Donkin is professor of Animal Sciences at Purdue University. He obtained his BS degree with distinction from McGill University in 1982. During a brief hiatus from academia, he was employed in the feed industry and managed a 100-cow dairy herd. He received an MS degree in dairy cattle nutrition from The Pennsylvania State University in 1987. He obtained his PhD degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1992 with a major in dairy cattle nutrition and minor in biomolecular chemistry. He completed postdoctoral training at The Pennsylvania State University, where he determined the molecular actions of somatotropin to regulate lipogenesis in porcine adipose tissue. He returned to the University of Wisconsin in 1994 to pursue postdoctoral training on methionine metabolism in bovine liver. He joined the faculty of the Department of Animal Sciences at Purdue University in 1995. His appointment is 70% research and 30% teaching. His basic research has focused on understanding the biochemical and molecular events that control liver function, and his applied research has helped to define the dietary requirements of transition dairy cows. Donkin has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Animal Science and Journal of Dairy Science, has served on the ADSA Graduate Student Publication Award Committee, and currently serves on the ADSA Graduate Poster Awards Committee. He has been co-advisor for the Purdue Dairy Club and is co-instructor of the Dairy Management course, co-instructor of an Interdisciplinary Nutritional Physiology course, and is instructor of the Ruminant Nutrition and Physiology course.
ASAS Midwestern Section
ADSA Midwest Branch
2007 Officer Nominations
Kenneth F. Kalscheur
Kenneth Kalscheur was raised on a Wisconsin dairy farm and attained his BS degree in dairy science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He later went on to complete MS and PhD degrees in animal sciences from the University of Maryland. Professionally, he served as a research and teaching assistant at the University of Maryland in the Department of Animal and Avian Sciences from 1994 to 2000 before he became assistant professor at South Dakota State University in the Dairy Science Department, where he currently continues his career.
His primary research focus is to investigate the effect of diet formulation and dairy herd management strategies to reduce nutrient excretion and improve nutrient utilization in lactating dairy cows and growing dairy heifers. This includes the utilization of distillers grains and other ethanol co-products in dairy cow diets. Research with distillers grain has shown that it can be successfully preserved in silo bags and that wet and dried distillers grains can be successfully included in dairy cattle diets. Thus far, research has resulted in authorship or co-authorship of 19 refereed journal articles, 44 research abstracts, and 25 extension and popular press articles.
Kalscheur is a member of both the American Dairy Science Association and the American Society of Animal Science. He has been an occasional reviewer for the Journal of Dairy Science, Journal of Animal Science, Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education, and Animal Feed Science and Technology. He is South Dakota State University’s representative to the NC-1119 regional research committee on Management Systems to Improve the Economic and Environmental Sustainability of Dairy Systems.
Relative to service to ADSA, Kalscheur has served as chair of the Ruminant Nutrition Section (2006), a member of the Ruminant Nutrition Section (2005), a member of the Undergraduate Competitive Research Paper Committee (2003–2004), and as chair of Ruminant Nutrition oral presentation sessions (2003–2005). Kalscheur has also been an invited symposium speaker on storage, ensiling, and handling wet ethanol co-products (2005).
ASAS Midwestern Section
2007 Officer Nominations
Candidate for ASAS President-Elect
Michael E. Spurlock, PhD
Michael E. Spurlock is currently an associate professor with tenure at Iowa State University, holding a joint appointment in the Departments of Food Science and Human Nutrition, and Animal Science. Dr. Spurlock grew up on a swine and beef operation in northern Arkansas and was active in athletics and as a member of the Future Farmers of America. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science (1981) and his Master of Science degree in Nutrition via the interdepartmental nutrition program in 1987 at the University of Missouri, Columbia. His dissertation addressed the relationship between antioxidant status and fatty liver hemorrhagic syndrome in a laying hen model, and he earned the PhD degree in nutrition in the same program at the University of Missouri in 1989.
Dr. Spurlock conducted postdoctoral research in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Missouri, Columbia, with Dr. Boyd O’Dell, in 1990. He then served for 18 months as a primary reviewer of pharmaceutical applications in the Swine and Poultry Drugs Branch, Center for Veterinary Medicine, US Food & Drug Administration, Washington, DC, and then entered a postdoctoral research position in the growth and development group of the Department of Animal Sciences at Purdue University in 1991. There, he studied the regulation of β-adrenergic receptors by performance enhancing agonists targeted at improving muscling and efficiency of growth in meat animals. This work led to Dr. Spurlock’s employment as a research scientist at Purina Mills Inc., St. Louis, MO, in 1993. Dr. Spurlock was promoted from senior research scientist to research manager in 1997 and senior research manager in 1998. During this time, he directed the growth biology research program and was the recipient of 2 National Pork Producer’s Council Innovative Basic Research Awards.
In 1995, Dr. Spurlock was appointed to the faculty of Purdue University as an adjunct assistant professor, where he was actively involved as a member of multiple graduate student committees and in other research and departmental functions. He returned to Purdue full time in 1999 as an assistant professor in Animal Sciences and subsequently established a basic research program focused on the endocrine and immunological actions of adipose tissue and the importance of these pathways to growth and body composition. He was promoted to associate professor in 2002 and became heavily involved in the Comparative Medicine Center that was founded by Purdue and Indiana Universities to develop the pig as a biomedical research model for obesity and the metabolic syndrome. Dr. Spurlock was an ESCOP/ACOP fellow from 2003-2004 and developed a project aimed at bringing industry and academic scientists together in collaborative efforts to develop commercial technologies to benefit animal agriculture. He received the College of Agriculture Outstanding Research Award in 2004 and was promoted to professor in 2005. He has acted as a consultant for multiple industry and government entities, both in the United States and overseas. He moved to Iowa State University in late 2005, where he has continued his focus on adipose tissue in relationship to the inflammation and insulin resistance of obesity.
During his career, Dr. Spurlock has authored or co-authored 45 peer-reviewed publications, and contributed 46 abstracts for national and international meetings. He has delivered 31 invited talks at professional meetings and has made substantial contributions to the fields of nutrition, immunology, and physiology. While at Purdue University, he advised 22 undergraduate Animal Science majors, served on 27 graduate student committees (some of which are ongoing), and mentored 3 PhD students and 3 postdoctoral research scientists. Since joining the faculty at Iowa State University, he has participated in 6 plans of study committees and is currently advising 2 PhD graduate students and 1 postdoctoral research scientist, who are working in various aspects of adipose tissue biology. Dr. Spurlock has been active in the American Society of Animal Science and has served on the review board for the Journal of Animal Science, in the nonruminant nutrition and growth & development sections. He has also been active in the American Society for Nutritional Sciences, the Endocrine Society, and the American Diabetes Association. Throughout his career, Dr. Spurlock has held leadership positions in planning scientific meetings and symposia, serving on editorial boards of leading journals in his field, serving on federal grant review panels, and reviewing numerous manuscript submissions and grant applications. Dr. Spurlock also served as the 2005-2006 chair for the NCCC-97 regional Adipose Tissue Biology project. Within the university, Dr. Spurlock has sat on critical departmental, college, and university committees and is actively involved in mentoring newer faculty members. Dr. Spurlock and his wife, Diane, live on a small farm in central Iowa where they raise commercial and purebred Hereford cattle.