Osu Agriculture Focuses On Animal Agriculture Through Animal Excellence Initiative

At the heart of this initiative is the creation of the Beef Center of Excellence, a cross-disciplinary hub designed to unite experts across the beef supply chain.

The Beef Center of Excellence will drive innovation through cutting-edge research, advanced Extension services and collaborative partnerships aimed at improving profitability and sustainability for beef producers today and in the future, said Robert Hodgen, president and CEO of King Ranch Inc. and a member of the Beef Center of Excellence advisory board.

“Creating the Beef Center of Excellence is a way to put a stake in the ground and say that Oklahoma State is going to be great at thinking about the broader cattle and beef industry,” Hodgen said. “By having this, we can attract even more great students from around the world, who want to focus on making a great-tasting product that’s nutritious for the consumer and grown in a sustainable manner.”

Supported by an advisory board, an executive director and endowed chairs in areas such as artificial intelligence, beef cattle economics, and rangeland ecology, the Beef Center of Excellence will fund impactful research and outreach.

Additionally, the Animal Excellence initiative includes facility and technology upgrades to modernize OSU’s animal teaching and research units.

OSU remains one of the few universities with operating units for all food animal species and is nationally recognized for the superior quality of livestock, teaching and research, all within proximity to OSU’s main campus.

“The animal units are a critical part of everything we do,” said Dr. Richard Coffey, head of the OSU Department of Animal and Food Sciences. “The animal units so close to campus give us the opportunity to use them as a recruiting tool for real, hands-on teaching with our students. Part of the reason we get students from more than 40 different states across the U.S. is that they know they can come to OSU and participate in hands-on learning as part of their education.”