Long regarded as one of the nation’s leading agricultural research institutions, Purdue University is using its highly regarded Department of Animal Sciences to help train the next generation of leaders in veterinary medicine, livestock production and food agriculture.
That effort was recently on display as the department combined its student and alumni honors into a newly expanded awards ceremony recognizing academic achievement, industry leadership and service across generations of graduates tied to the university’s nationally regarded agriculture programs.
The inaugural Outstanding Students and Distinguished Alumni Awards Program honored undergraduate students ranging from first-year scholars to transfer students, alongside alumni working in veterinary medicine, poultry production, research and higher education.
“This award is a reminder of how far I’ve come and of the people who helped me get here,” said Lillian Andis, who received the department’s Outstanding Senior Award. “It makes the journey feel real.”
University officials said the revised format was intended to connect current students with graduates already shaping the agriculture and animal-science industries — fields that have gained new prominence amid concerns over food security, animal disease outbreaks and demand for sustainable protein production.
Among the students recognized was Ava Miller of Bowie, Md., who received the Outstanding Freshman Award and was also named the College of Agriculture’s top freshman student. Miller, a pre-veterinary medicine student, conducts research in cryopreservation and serves in leadership roles with Purdue’s Black Student Union Freshman Action Team and student research publications.
“Receiving this award has been a confirmation that I’m on the right track,” Miller said. “Hearing about all the amazing things the other award recipients have accomplished also reminded me that choosing Purdue was one of the best decisions I could have made.”
Regina Hoefer of Lafayette, Ind., received the Outstanding Sophomore Award after becoming active in Purdue’s Poultry Club and Meat Judging Team while pursuing studies in animal production and industry. She said hands-on learning opportunities and poultry-industry internships helped shape her career ambitions in meat production and graduate education.
The Outstanding Junior Award went to Delaney Packard of South Bend, Ind., who said she entered Purdue without an agricultural background but found a professional path through livestock and meat-processing work at the university’s Boilermaker Butcher Block.
“Receiving this award really shows me that you don’t need an agricultural background to succeed in animal sciences at Purdue,” Packard said.
The department also recognized Gwen Weaver, a transfer student from Vincennes University, for her work balancing academics, mentorship and involvement with Purdue’s equestrian team while preparing for a career in equine veterinary medicine.
Alongside student honors, Purdue recognized alumni whose careers have helped shape the poultry and animal-science industries.
Kate Borders, honored with the Early Career Alumni Award, oversees animal welfare and compliance programs at Miller Poultry and has coordinated student internships since 2022.
Daniel Wilson, recipient of the Mid-Career Alumni Award, founded Wilson Vet Co., a poultry veterinary practice that now serves producers in nearly 30 states and provides oversight for more than 100 million commercial egg-laying hens nationwide.
“A lot of the opportunities that shaped my career started at Purdue,” Wilson said, citing undergraduate research and work experience in poultry production that helped introduce him to the commercial poultry industry.
The department’s Lifetime Alumni Award went to Gretchen Myers Hill, a professor emerita at Michigan State University whose research on trace elements and animal nutrition helped shape decades of scholarship in animal science.
Hill earned her master’s degree from Purdue in 1966, when she was one of only three women enrolled in the university’s graduate animal sciences program — a reflection, university officials noted, of how dramatically the field has evolved over the past half-century.
The ceremony underscored Purdue’s continuing role as a pipeline for students entering veterinary medicine, livestock production, agricultural research and food manufacturing — industries facing growing pressure to modernize while meeting rising global demand for protein and animal health expertise.
