Faculty Win Animal Science Awards

Dr. Ken Esbenshade, associate dean and director of academic programs in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, was among top honorees at the annual meeting of the American Society of Animal Science.

Esbenshade was named a fellow in the society’s administrative category this summer. The honor is considered a career or lifetime achievement award.

At the same event, Dr. Jack Odle, William Neal Reynolds Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry, received the organization’s Animal Growth and Development Award.

Esbenshade joined NC State in 1981 as a animal science faculty member. Before assuming his current duties, he served as a department graduate administrator, department head and Agricultural Institute leader. He holds a bachelor’s degree in animal husbandry from Delaware Valley College, and master’s and doctoral degrees from Purdue University.

Odle’s research, which has agricultural and medical applications, has used the piglet as a model to study metabolism. He has garnered more than $6 million for research, published 100 peer-reviewed papers and 200 abstracts and technical reports, and trained 34 students. He directs a USDA-funded graduate training grant based on the research campus in Kannapolis.