ACAS Board Certification Update

Patrick French, PhD, PAS, Dipl. ACAS, ACAS President

I genuinely thank members of the American College of Animal Sciences (ACAS), the board certification arm of ARPAS for electing me as president and look forward to serving the organization in the coming year. I thank Randy Walker for his service as ACAS president for the past year, Ken Cummings for his service as ARPAS executive vice president, and Cornicha Henderson of FASS for her assistance with the ACAS administrative duties.

Board Certification was established in 1995 and is the highest level of certification awarded by ARPAS. There are several disciplines currently available including: 1) Animal Behavior, 2) Animal Food Science, 3) Animal Genetics, 4) Animal Nutrition, 5) Animal Physiology, and 6) Animal Welfare Science. You may meet the educational and experience requirements for ACAS membership which can be found at the APRAS website along with procedures for board certification.

As we continue to expand membership in ACAS, a great way to become an ACAS member is through the “highly qualified individual” designation. Young professionals who are still early in their career are also excellent candidates for ACAS membership through the examination process. If you have young professionals in your organization, please encourage them to consider ACAS membership.

The annual meeting of ACAS was held during the American Dairy Science Association’s (ADSA) annual meeting in Knoxville, TN on June 26, 2019. Six new ACAS members were announced: David Casper, Furst-McNess Company; Glenn Duff, New Mexico State University; Josh Davy, University of California; David Beede, Michigan State university; Eric van Heugten, North Carolina State University; and Michael Gadberry, University of Arkansas. Officers for the coming year are Patrick French, president; Will Seymour, president elect; Randy Walker, past president; and Ron Lemenager, secretary-treasurer. Directors for the individual disciplines are Jeffrey DeFrain, animal nutrition; Kenneth McMillin, animal food science; Will Schultz, animal breeding and genetics; Michael Looper, animal physiology; Geoffrey Cochrane, animal welfare; and Jeff Pendergraft, animal behavior.

The next annual meeting of ACAS will be at the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) annual meeting in Austin, TX which runs July 7-11, 2019. I look forward to seeing you at ASAS meeting next year.