The holiday season is upon us and 2019 is rapidly approaching. This time of year is always a time of good cheer that rejuvenates and prepares us for the year to come. I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season.

Since our last newsletter, we have two new American College of Animal Sciences (ACAS) members, Billy Flowers in animal physiology and Elliot Block in animal nutrition. Our trend for the past few years has been to add four to six new ACAS members each year. As you might guess, this leaves a lot of current ARPAS members who are likely ACAS eligible who are not board certified. Our goal is to encourage ACAS-eligible ARPAS members to seek board certification through either the exam route or the highly qualified individual route. The requirements for board certification can be found at the ARPAS website along with procedures for board certification.

If you meet these requirements and are not yet board certified, I encourage you to maximize the value of your ARPAS membership by joining ACAS. For those of you who have recently completed your graduate program, the ideal time to apply for ACAS membership is as soon as you meet the time requirement, which is one year after a candidate has received a PhD degree or four years after receiving a MS degree. There is a benefit to applying while you still remember the joy of taking exams. If you are an ACAS member, please encourage your friends and colleagues that are ACAS eligible to join you in becoming a member of an elite group of animal scientists who have achieved the highest level of ARPAS certification.

Don’t forget that our next annual meeting of ACAS will be at the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) annual meeting in Austin, Texas, which runs July 8–11, 2019. I look forward to seeing you at the annual meeting.