K-State Current - December 18, 2019

K-State Current is a weekly news update for the Kansas Board of Regents to apprise the Regents on a few of the many successes and achievements made by K-State faculty, staff and students.

K-State News

Graduate School Dean Carol Shanklin to retire at end of academic year

After more than 30 years of service to Kansas State University, including the last 10-plus years as dean of the Graduate School, Carol Shanklin will retire at the end of June 2020.

"I would like to thank Carol Shanklin for her outstanding service to graduate education at Kansas State University," said Charles Taber, provost and executive vice president. "When I speak with students it is very clear how much they appreciate Carol's commitment to their success. No higher compliment can be paid to a grad school dean."

Appointed dean of the Graduate School in January 2009 after serving as its interim dean since October 2007, Shanklin coordinates all aspects of graduate education at K-State, including recruitment and retention of graduate students, professional development activities, promoting graduate and professional education, facilitating program quality, and advocating for graduate students. She represents the Graduate School on numerous university committees and task forces. She has mentored more than 100 graduate students and supports K-State's Graduate Student Council as co-adviser. She currently serves on the nomination committee on the Council of Graduate Schools.

"I have enjoyed the opportunity to serve as an advocate for graduate education at K-State and serving as dean of the Graduate School," Shanklin said. "I am pleased with the initiatives that have been implemented with the Graduate School team."

Shanklin joined K-State in 1990 and has taught master's and doctoral courses in food service and hospitality management. She has served the dietetics profession for more than 40 years.

Shanklin's research has focused on food safety and biosecurity in food-service operations, the improvement of food service operations in long-term care retirement communities, on alternative approaches to waste management, and the minimization of solid waste in food service operations. She is a member of the research team for the Center for Food Safety Research in Child Nutrition at K-State, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Shanklin has served on the board of directors of the Council of Graduate Schools, as chair of the Midwest Association of Graduate Deans and as president of the Kansas Dietetic Association and, at the national level, has served the American Dietetic Association as chair of the education committee, chair of the Council on Education, chair of the Commission on Dietetic Registration, chair of the research committee, and has represented Kansas as a member of the association's House of Delegates. She has served as chair of the Great Plains IDEA Graduate Deans and cabinet representative, and the Kansas Graduate Deans Council.

She was named one of eight recipients of the American Dietetic Association's 2001 Medallion national award for her research, leadership, advancement of the profession and commitment to dietetic education. Shanklin was selected for the University of Delaware's Michael D. Olsen Research Award in recognition of her research and mentoring of graduate students in 2004. In January 2009 she received the Founder's Award for her leadership and contributions to the creation of knowledge and development. She was selected to receive the 2015 Excellence in Research Practice for Dietetic Research Award by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Ingram's Kansas Business Magazine named her as one of its 2017 Icons of Education. She was awarded the Flinchbaugh Family Wildcat Pride Award from the K-State Alumni Association in 2018 for her support of outreach efforts worldwide in collaboration with the association.

Shanklin received her bachelor's degree in home economics education from the University of Tennessee at Martin. She received both her master's degree and doctorate from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in home economics and food systems administration.

A search for a replacement dean of Graduate School will begin in the near future with additional details forthcoming.

First U.S. certificate program in animal health regulatory affairs now available Kansas State University's Olathe campus is now offering a premier graduate certificate designed for the regulatory affairs sector of the animal health industry.

The Animal Health Regulatory Affairs Graduate Certificate is a 15-credit hour program that combines the knowledge of animal science and veterinary medicine with skills needed to navigate governmental processes and regulations throughout the product lifecycle. The certificate is based on industry input and tailored to industry needs.

K-State Olathe's Animal Health Regulatory Affairs Graduate Certificate is the first graduate certificate in the U.S. to focus solely on animal health regulatory affairs.

Regulatory affairs is a critical component of the growing animal health industry, said Bill Zollers, vice president for regulatory affairs for North America at Norbrook Inc.

"There is a continuous demand for highly educated professionals who specialize in regulatory affairs," Zollers said. "That demand for talent won't ever slow down. If anything, the need is increasing as the industry continues to discover new pharmaceuticals, therapeutics and products that improve animal health."

While a career demand exists for employees who specialize in animal health regulatory affairs, there is often a skills gap, said Stacy Pursell, founder and CEO of The VET Recruiter — an executive search and recruitment firm concentrating on the animal health industry. Pursell also is a Certified Employee Retention Specialist, or CERS, and a Certified Personnel Consultant, or CPC.

"As a recruiter, this is a challenging job position to fill because most companies are seeking professionals with experience," Pursell said. "However, some who are currently in the animal health industry are not yet qualified."

The continuous need for highly educated employees has led to companies investing significant resources and time into developing "homegrown" talent," Pursell said. However, this "homegrown" education has led to most employees specializing in one of the three federal agencies that oversee animal health products rather than having a robust knowledge about the regulations and practices required by all three federal agencies.

"Our program seeks to rectify that knowledge gap that comes with this siloed grooming process," said Gary Anderson, director of the Animal Health and Food Safety Institute at K-State's Olathe campus. "Among the regulatory knowledge taught, three separate courses focus on the Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This means graduates exit with not only broader and deeper knowledge about regulatory affairs, but they also are more familiar with each of the three federal agencies that oversee animal drug, vaccine and pesticide development."

To ensure the curriculum is relevant and applicable, courses are taught by faculty who have industry backgrounds. Courses also incorporate industry professionals with regulatory experience to lead in-depth discussions on key topics.

The certificate is open to professionals from all backgrounds, not just those in animal health.

Learn more about the Animal Health Regulatory Affairs Graduate Certificate at olathe.k-state.edu/regaffairscert.

K-State Faculty Highlights

Zhilong Yang recognized as Professor of the Week Zhilong Yang, an assistant professor in the Division of Biology, was recognized as Professor of the Week at the Dec. 7 men's home basketball game.

Yang joined Kansas State University in October 2013 and has established an active research program to understand mechanisms governing viral replication. He expects that the discoveries from his research will expand the knowledge of viruses and their hosts, and facilitate developing novel therapeutic and prevention strategies.

Yang's research program has been supported by multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health, including a Research Project Grant, or R01; a Pathway to Independence Award, K99/R00; an Exploratory/Developmental Grant Award, R21; and a Centers for Biomedical Research Excellence Project, P20.

Yang's group mainly uses poxviruses as the model. Poxviruses comprise many pathogens that cause diseases in humans and livestock. They are also of interest because they are used to develop novel therapeutics to treat other infectious diseases and cancers. Yang's group has made a series of important discoveries since he joined K-State.

Yang teaches undergraduate and graduate courses, including Principals of Biology, Advanced Cell Biology and Modern Molecular Approaches. Yang is a passionate mentor of undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral researchers. Training next-generation scientists is a parallel career goal of his research. He is training or has trained more than 20 scientists in his laboratory. Yang also has served on 16 supervisory committees for graduate students from other laboratories. He emphasizes critical thinking in teaching and mentoring.

The Professor of the Week recognition is coordinated by Faculty Senate, the president's office, K-State Athletics and the Division of Communications and Marketing. Recipients are faculty members selected by Faculty Senate caucuses. Those selected are provided tickets to a men's home basketball game of their choosing and are recognized during halftime. This is just a small token of appreciation for those who teach at K-State.

K-State Student News

UK commission selects Kansas State University senior for 2020 Marshall Scholarship

Kansas State University senior in agricultural economics Clara Wicoff, Iola, will receive a 2020 Marshall Scholarship for graduate study in the United Kingdom.

For 2020, Marshall Scholarships have been awarded to 46 American students by the British government as a means of continually strengthening ties between the U.K. and U.S. Wicoff is the 15th K-State student to receive the scholarship, which provides full funding for one or two years of graduate study in the U.K.

"Clara Wicoff is an exceptional choice for this prestigious scholarship," said President Richard Myers. "Clara's history of leadership and public service certainly fits the Marshall Scholarship objective to serve as an ambassador between the two countries, and her dedication to global food security represents K-State's land-grant mission well."

Wicoff will use the scholarship to work toward a master's degree in either economics or food security and development to promote global food security. According to Wicoff, food insecurity is a global and complex problem. She said the U.K. alone has 1.2 million people who are severely food insecure, which could be made worse post-Brexit since half of the U.K.'s food products are imported.

"During my first semester at Kansas State University, I was introduced to the concept of 'wicked problems,' which are complex and must be addressed in a multidisciplinary manner," said Wicoff. "The valuable experiences I have had as a K-State student have helped prepare me for a career addressing the wicked problem of food insecurity. I am eager to build upon these experiences by continuing my studies at a university in the U.K."

Throughout Wicoff's education, she has worked toward her career goal of understanding and addressing global food insecurity. As part of the university's entomology department undergraduate research experience program, Wicoff explored postharvest loss as one important contributor to food insecurity. In particular, she researched the influence of a specific insecticide-treated storage material on insect pests at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Center for Grain and Animal Health Research in Manhattan.

In June and July, Wicoff worked as a Cargill business management intern and from January to April, she was a Kansas Grain and Feed Association legislative fellow. In 2018, Wicoff served as a committee intern for the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. She also served as state vice president for the Kansas FFA Association from 2016-2017, the events coordinator for the College of Agriculture Ambassadors from 2018-2019 and as the alumnae relations director for her sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, in 2018.

Wicoff is a member of the Blue Key Honor Society, where she serves as the co-director of the Catalyst self-development program for freshman and sophomore students at K-State. She also is a Center for Risk Management Education and Research student fellow, a student worker for the Kansas Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Lodging Program, and a member of the university's Honor and Integrity Council. She previously served on the Riley County and city of Manhattan Food and Farm Council.

In addition to the Marshall scholarship, Wicoff has received a national Truman Scholarship, a K-State Presidential Scholarship and a K-State Kassebaum Scholarship and is a National Merit scholar. She is a 2016 graduate of Iola High School and the daughter of Joel and Lisa Wicoff, Iola.

K-State horse judging team captures two world titles Members of Kansas State University’s 2019 horse judging team include (l to r) Clarissa Conrad, assistant coach; Krissy Isle, Coffeyville; Alley Leslie, Inman; Lauren Greiner, Papillion (Nebraska); Taylor Bachtel, Leavenworth; Emily Prugh, Elkhart (Indiana); Emily Meier, Goddard; Erin LeKamp, New Berlin (Illinois); and head coach James Lattimer. Assistant coach Rachel Sorenson is not pictured. (Courtesy photo)

The Kansas State University horse judging team captured a bit of history this fall when the squad won two of the most prestigious contests offered for collegiate competitors.

K-State won the American Paint Horse Association title in September and followed that up with a victory at the American Quarter Horse Association contest in mid-November. It’s the first time that any four-year school has pulled off the judging double, according to head coach James Lattimer.

“It’s always great to see young people succeed,” said Lattimer, an assistant professor of animal science. “I attended K-State and judged here just as they did and had some success on the judging floor, but it pales in comparison to the pride you have as the coach and seeing a young person succeed.”

Listen to a radio interview with the champions

Like other livestock judging contests, horse judging requires team members to evaluate any of a dozen classes of horses, place them according to pre-determined criteria, and provide oral reasons for those placements to judges.

“At a collegiate level, it’s very difficult,” said team member Emily Prugh, a senior from Elkhart, Indiana. “You really have to step up your game and you have to be creative in the reasons room. But we practice intensely so that we are ready for the contest and we really know our stuff when we walk into that contest. You’re no longer scared of what might happen, but excited to show your abilities.”

In addition to Prugh, team members included Taylor Bachtel of Leavenworth, Kansas; Lauren Greiner of Papillion, Nebraska; Krissy Isle of Coffeyville, Kansas; Erin LeKamp of New Berlin, Illinois; Ally Leslie of Inman, Kansas; and Emily Meier of Goddard, Kansas.

K-State graduate students Clarissa Conrad and Rachel Sorensen were assistant coaches.

“I think what makes these two wins even more special is just knowing that we were a group of young people coming from different states and different backgrounds and we all came together and grew a tight-knit bond,” Meier said. “It really was ordinary people doing extra-ordinary things.”

Added Leslie: “We all got into this last spring and we were hoping to come back with wins. But I don’t think any of us truly thought we could pull it off. Being able to do that…I’m really proud of that.”

The AQHA contest has been held for 40 years. K-State has won that contest four times in the past 11 years, most recently in 2017. The APHA contest is just in its fourth year.

K-State’s prep for the national contests is a lot like what sports teams go through. The team was practicing 10-12 hours a week outside of class time, sometimes between classes or early in the morning.

“We all had to work together outside of the contest, during practice, sharing reasons terms and talking about classes (of horses),” Prugh said. “By working together, we were able to give ourselves a competitive edge and I think that makes our win even more special.”

“You have great years and world championship years and then you have years that are quite opposite of that,” Lattimer said. “And the difference between those is work ethic, dedication and a competitor’s spirit.”

More information about K-State’s horse judging team is available online.

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