A nationally recognized professor with Texas Tech's Department of Animal and Food Sciences has received the American Meat Science Association's 2021 AMSA Distinguished Teaching Award. Dale Woerner, Texas Tech's Cargill Endowed Professor, will receive the honor on Tuesday (Aug. 17) during the 74th AMSA Reciprocal Meat Conference awards presentation in Reno, Nevada.

Sponsored by Hawkins, Inc., the award was established to recognize excellence in teaching undergraduate and graduate meat science courses and the impact on the lives of those students in a highly positive manner.

“Teaching is my passion, and I do research to enhance my ability to teach,” Woerner said. “Every time that I get in front of a group to teach, it is my goal to make a difference in their understanding, to engage them, to inform them of something new, and to have them leave with a new desire to do something better. I love students, and nothing makes me happier than to see them succeed.”

Woerner, a meat science researcher who earned his bachelor's and master's degrees at Texas Tech, joined the university in 2018, after serving  nine years as a professor of meat science in the Department of Animal Sciences at Colorado State University, where he earned his doctorate in 2009.  

Woerner's research and teaching focus is on meat quality, processing, cookery, flavor and nutritional value, as well as red meat composition, yield and international marketing, innovative carcass cutting strategies, meat shelf life and livestock quality management systems. In 2018, Woerner earned the Texas Tech University Distinguished Alumni Award for CASNR. 

He is a widely published researcher and collaborator who has been a presenter or invited speaker on numerous subjects. He also has been a part of research projects that have generated more than $11 million in external funding, including more than $8.8 million as the principal investigator or co-principal investigator.

“I can tell you that Dale is a great teacher,” added Jerrad Legako, a professor with Texas Tech's Department of Animal and Food Sciences and the winner of Tech's 2021 Chancellor's Council Distinguished Research Award. “He has an innate ability to engage with students. His teaching often inspires undergraduates to extend their academic careers and pursue graduate degrees in meat science.”

Legako noted that Woerner's courses are among the most popular courses taught in the department, and his students routinely find a passion for meat science. “His teaching approach is centered around active and engaged experiential learning, in which he is continuously bridging the gap between the technical and applied aspects of meat science,” he said.

CONTACT: Michael Orth, chairman, Department of Animal and Food Sciences, College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 834-5653 or michael.orth@ttu.edu

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