The Dr. Rodney Preston Graduate Fellowship Endowment was established in 2009. The fellowship was created to fund scholarships for graduate students with studies in the field of animal science focused on the production, nutrition, growth, protein metabolism and muscle physiology of beef cattle or other similarly related fields of research to advance the efficiency and understanding of commercial beef production as part of the US agricultural industry. The recipient must be a graduate student in good standing in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences.

R. L. Preston received the B.S. degree in Animal Nutrition with High Distinction from Colorado State University (1953), the M.S. (1955) and Ph.D. (1957) degrees in Animal Nutrition and Veterinary Physiology from Iowa State University.  He served on the Animal Science faculty at the University of Missouri (1957-69), The Ohio State University (1969-75) and was Chairman of the Animal Sciences Department at Washington State University (1975-82).  At Texas Tech University (1982-96), he held the Thornton Endowed Chair in Animal Science, was Director of the Burnett Center for Beef Cattle Research and Teaching, named Horn Distinguished Professor (1994) and Professor Emeritus (1997).

Dr. Preston received the Outstanding Junior Faculty Member Award at the University of Missouri (1964), an NIH Special Fellowship for research in veterinary biochemistry the Netherlands (1964-65), the Texas Tech University, College of Agricultural Sciences Research Award (1989) and the Texas Tech Dads and Moms Association Barnie E. Rushing Faculty Distinguished Research Award (1990).  He holds honorary memberships in Alpha Zeta, Gamma Sigma Delta, Phi Kappa Phi and Sigma Xi and is listed in American Men and Women in Science.  He is a member of the American Society of Animal Science and a former member of the American Institute of Nutrition, Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine and the Plains Nutrition Council.  He was Editor for the Applied Section of the Journal of Animal Science and is a Past-President of the American Society of Animal Science; this society awarded him the Animal Industry Service Award (1996) and named him a Fellow of the society (1997).  He received the Professional Excellence Award from the Plains Nutrition Council (2006).  He still serves on the Federation of Animal Science Societies Food Safety, Animal Health and Animal Drug Committee.  He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council Committee on Animal Nutrition, Council for Agriculture Science and Technology Board of Directors, American Association for the Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care Board of Trustees, Chairman of the Intersociety Animal Research Priorities Task Force, U.S. Office of Technology-Animal Technology Assessment Panel and many other committees.

Dr. Preston's areas of research and teaching are animal nutrition, protein, energy and mineral utilization, growth, body composition and anabolic agents in beef cattle and sheep. Dr. Preston is recognized as an international expert in many of these areas.  Specifically, he was a pioneer scientist in the research pertaining to anabolic growth promotants used in beef cattle production.  He remains an active advocate for the use of technology to enhance efficiency of beef production in the United States. He is author/co-author of 108 journal articles, 162 abstracts of papers presented at professional meetings, 14 book chapters and 417 technical and extension reports, popular articles and letters to editors.  In 2004, he co-authored "Fifty Years of Pharmaceutical Technology and Its Impact on the Beef We Provide to Consumers."  He has been the major advisor for 21 M.S. and 17 Ph.D. students.  He served on two USAID design or study teams in the countries of Lesotho and Egypt, and has lectured in several European countries, the Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Japan, Mexico, Brazil and China.  He has written a biography, Stetson, Pipe and Boots, about a former Colorado cattleman and governor, Dan Thornton, published in 2006.

Dr. Preston passed away Thursday, July 4, 2019.

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Contact

Alex Yack
Alex.Yack@ttu.edu
Senior Director of Development
806.742.2802

Matt Williams
matt.williams@ttu.edu
Director of Development
806.742.2802

Shelbey Havens
shelbey.havens@ttu.edu
Assistant Director of Development
806.834.1108