The Texas Tech College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources' Associate Dean for Research will be taking on additional duties beginning this fall, as Texas Tech institutes a new Department of Veterinary Sciences. Michael Ballou will serve as the interim chair of the new CASNR graduate degree program that the college hopes will attract students who have an interest in population or preventative veterinary medicine, with a focus on large production animal veterinary medicine.

The newly formed department, which is a graduate degree program only, will offer both a master's and doctorate degree, both of which are research degrees. The primary focus of the department will be to train individuals in population and preventative veterinary medicine. The program plans to attract people interested in pursuing a research career with a primary focus in farm animal medicine.

Ballou, a nationally-recognized nutritional biologist, earned his bachelor's degree in animal science in 2002 and his doctorate in nutritional biology, with an emphasis on immunology, in 2007, both from the University of California-Davis. He was recognized by the American Dairy Science Association this year for outstanding achievement in research, teaching and service, and received the Chancellor's Distinguished Research Award in 2016.

His research program broadly focuses on understanding the immunological basis for diseases in high-risk populations of livestock. In the past Ballou's research has centered on understanding how the innate immune responses of animals at various physiological states are involved in resistance to diseases and modulation of innate immune responses through management and nutrition practices.

CONTACT: Steven Fraze, Interim Dean, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2808 or steven.fraze@ttu.edu

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