Catching Up with CALS — Nov. 13, 2024

Dean's Message — Steer-ing Toward Greatness

The annual Steer-A-Year program, conducted by our Department of Animal, Veterinary and Food Sciences (AVFS), is as much about bragging rights and measuring personal successes for participating Idaho ranchers as supporting a good cause. Participants donate a steer to the university, and proceeds go toward U of I beef research in addition to scholarships for Vandal athletes and students within the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS). More than 1,800 steers have been donated, raising more than $1.1 million, since the program was launched in 1988 by the late Carl Hunt, who was a popular professor who helped shape many of our AVFS programs. CALS supporters who lack their own herd may also back the program by making cash donations toward the $1,850 purchase price of a steer from our herd at the Nancy M. Cummings Research, Extension and Education Center in Salmon.

Ranchers eagerly await the results of carcass-trait data from donated steers, critiquing marbling, fat content and USDA grading — information that’s not provided when they sell cattle at auction. The data serve as a barometer for the cattle producers, confirming the effectiveness of their choices pertaining to management and genetics. Every steer is also entered into a competition, which donors take immense pride in winning. Prizes are awarded for average daily gain, carcass cutability, lean gain per day and most valuable steer. The program’s student employees select the Carl Hunt Favorite Steer, honoring the most memorable animal — often an underdog. Cameron Mulrony, executive director of the Idaho Cattle Association (ICA), explained, “Cattlemen are competitive by nature and competition builds greatness.”

This year’s Steer-A-Year program raised roughly $130,000, with donors earmarking 39% for the ICA Scholarship Fund supporting CALS students, 37% for the Beef Research Endowment and 24% for the Vandal Scholarship Fund benefiting student athletes. Sixty-four Steer-A-Year cattle were sold, including 24 that were purchased from the university’s herd. Vandal Brand Meats bought about 15 of those animals, with the remainder getting sold to Agri Beef’s processing plant in Toppenish, Washington. Revenue generated from this year’s sale supported 15 scholarships for CALS students alone.

We’ve just begun the process of reaching out to donors to support our 2025 Steer-A-Year program. Steers are 9 to 10 months old when we acquire them, and they are harvested at 16 to 18 months old. The cattle are fed from January through July at a campus feedlot devoted to the program, which is run by a team of seven student employees. In addition to the animals, animal vaccines are donated by Merck Animal Health and feed is donated by Pioneer Enterprises of Lewiston and the U of I feed mill.

Though many other universities offer similar fundraisers, ours is the largest program of its kind in the Pacific Northwest. Steer-A-Year and the beef feedlot are managed by Makayla Proett. “It’s a cool way for students to get real-life experience in a feedlot while also raising money for scholarships. It’s very impressive that we are able to have the size of program that we do have considering everything is donated,” Proett said.

Steer-A-Year season wraps up in late August or early September, when CALS hosts an annual golf tournament and banquet for supporters, during which we announce the highly anticipated contest results.

Idaho is one of nine states with more cattle than people, so it’s fitting that CALS has a top-notch beef program. We’ve started substantial upgrades to our beef facilities, having broken ground on an expansive, new meat science laboratory that will also house Vandal Brand Meats, to be called the Meat Science and Innovation Center Honoring Ron Richard.

Through efforts such as Steer-A-Year, we make taking advantage of our new, cutting-edge facilities and tremendous degree programs more accessible to a broader range of CALS students, and educating students, after all, is the primary function of our college.

Michael P. Parrella

Dean
College of Agricultural and Life Sciences

By the Numbers

National STEM/STEAM Day was celebrated on Nov. 8. University of Idaho Extension 4-H Youth Development and the Idaho Out-of-School Network deploy Think, Make, Create Lab mobile makerspaces statewide. The trailers are equipped with fun arts and craft supplies and tools that allow youth to tinker, explore STEM concepts, collaborate and problem solve. The program has now reached 70,000 youth and 4,000 adults over 3.5 years. There are now 28 physical trailers deployed and many more Think, Make, Create users taking advantage of the programming without a trailer. The program has also hosted 40 trainings, reaching 525 educators.

Our Stories

CALS Rodeo Queen

Miss Rodeo Idaho Ashley Kerby will model a denim, button-up shirt she embroidered showcasing reasons why she’s proud to be a Vandal alumna when she competes at the forthcoming Miss Rodeo America Pageant.

For the past year, Kerby, ’22, of Kuna, who holds a bachelor’s in animal and veterinary science: pre-vet option, has worked full time visiting elementary schools, corporate sponsors of her sport, community events and rodeos throughout the country to promote the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

At every opportunity during her travels as rodeo royalty, Kerby has also made a point of touting the accomplishments of her alma mater and its College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS).

“I’m a fifth-generation graduate. I have a long line of Vandals in my family, and I wanted to follow in their footsteps and continue the legacy and go to University of Idaho,” Kerby said.

The Miss Rodeo America Pageant will encompass a week of competitions and engagements, beginning Dec. 1 at the Southpoint Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. During one pageant event, contestants will have 45 seconds to present a personally designed Wrangler shirt featuring important tidbits about their state. Kerby’s shirt tells a story about U of I, with an emphasis on CALS.

The likeness of a mule represents Idaho Gem, which Kerby will explain was the first equine family member ever cloned. Researchers with U of I and University of Utah were responsible for the 2003 breakthrough. The fries and potato flowers she embroidered depict how the late J.R. Simplot, a U of I alumnus, was the patriarch of the frozen French fry industry, and how U of I supplies domestic and international seed potato farmers with disease-free germplasm and mini-tubers from its new Seed Potato Germplasm Laboratory.

A cow with a blue tongue signifies U of I’s efforts to develop a vaccine for a devastating disease of cattle, bluetongue virus. Pea vines depict U of I’s innovative research on pea farming. She included bees because U of I is a certified Bee Campus with a gorgeous arboretum. The scales of justice represent U of I’s law school.

“I get asked about my college experience and what I did prior to becoming Miss Rodeo Idaho all the time. I had an incredible four years of my undergraduate,” Kerby said. “I’m excited about that outfit.”

Kerby was raised in Meridian. She was involved in both FFA and University of Idaho Extension 4-H Youth Development throughout her childhood, starting by showing a rabbit with Cloverbuds, which is the 4-H program for 5- to 7-year-olds. She went on to do swine projects with FFA and horse projects with 4-H.

In high school, she job shadowed a veterinarian and chose her career path. She hopes to get accepted to Washington State University’s veterinary program following her time as a rodeo queen, unless she’s forced to delay veterinary school for another year due to winning Miss Rodeo America.

“I have always loved animals and I have a passion for horses and cows,” Kerby said. “I could never have enough animals.”

At age 13, Kerby began participating both in rodeo and rodeo queen pageants. Throughout high school, she competed with the National Barrel Horse Association.

She was enrolled in U of I from the fall of 2019 through December of 2022. During college, she participated in reining — a riding competition in which a rider guides a horse through patterns — as a hobby. She also participated in U of I’s Student Cattle Association, Pre-Veterinary Club and Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.

Kerby competed in her first Miss Rodeo Idaho Pageant in the summer of 2022, finishing as first runner-up. She won the title on her second attempt during the Snake River Stampede, hosted in Nampa in July 2023. The pageant required her to know the sport of rodeo in detail, select a variety of western outfits, design her own chaps and ride patterns on an unfamiliar horse with no warmup.

After winning the pageant, she spent six months observing the prior rodeo queen as Lady in Waiting, before receiving her crown in January 2024. As Idaho’s queen, Kerby has traveled as far away as Florida attending rodeos and serving as a rodeo ambassador.

The days are long, but she’s enjoyed meeting new people, especially elementary children during school visits. She reads horse-themed stories to some classrooms and answers rodeo-related questions in others. Girls often ask her about her horse, and if her secret identity is Cowgirl Barbie. The boys like to ask if she rides bulls or bucking broncos.

“Children’s imaginations are so fun,” Kerby said. “Some of them think we are real-life Disney princesses coming to their school.”

Kerby participated in her final rodeo of the season Nov. 1-2 in Heber City, Utah, for the Wilderness Circuit Finals.

FCCLA Returns to U of I

Members of University of Idaho’s recently resurrected chapter of Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) are conducting a large-scale fundraiser that will also benefit people in developing nations.

FCCLA is a career and technical student organization, like FFA, that operates within schools and teaches life skills in the family and consumer sciences (FCS). Members of the organization attend leadership conferences, engage in community service and participate in competitions covering the gamut of FCS disciplines.

U of I brought back its FCCLA chapter during the 2023-2024 school year. The chapter recently started a statewide shoe drive, accepting donations of used shoes in good condition at drop boxes on campus in the Niccolls Building and the E.J. Iddings Agricultural Sciences Building, as well as at the university’s off-campus agricultural research and Extension centers and the UI Extension office in Ada County, located at 5880 Glenwood St., Boise.

Donations will be accepted through Dec. 1, though the drive may be extended if the club falls short of its lofty goal of filling a tractor-trailer with donated shoes.

The shoes will be given to Funds2orgs, which is a global social enterprise headquartered in Florida, for distribution to micro-entrepreneurs in 26 developing nations. The micro-entrepreneurs will sell the shoes in second-hand stores in their communities, and the U of I FCCLA chapter will receive $10,000 for the load of shoes. Shoes should be free of holes and have tread remaining on the soles.

The chapter intends to use some of the funding to help FCCLA students participate in competitions. High school chapters that drop off shoes at U of I research and extension centers will receive a share of the proceeds proportionate to their donation. The U of I FCCLA chapter will donate much of the funding to members’ favorite Idaho charitable causes. 

“I’m spreading the word to all FCCLA groups throughout Idaho to contribute,” said Ginny Lane, advisor of U of I’s FCCLA chapter and a registered dietitian who is an assistant professor within the Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences. “Lots of people have huge amounts of shoes they collect, and they don’t wear many of them, and they don’t know what to do with the rest. Having a cause like this gives them an opportunity to make good use of them.”

In addition to the shoe drive, the U of I FCCLA chapter also organized a fall pumpkin-carving event.

The chapter lost several members from last year due to graduation and is focused on recruiting, with plans to begin hosting regular meetings on Wednesdays. Abbigail Bishop, an FCS education major who is minoring in nutrition, is the chapter’s president.

“We feel like a lot of the FCS education majors don’t really know what FCCLA is, and when you become an FCS teacher you have to have a career and technical student organization under you,” Bishop said. “FCCLA is an option.”

Members of the U of I chapter will volunteer to evaluate high school students who participate in FCCLA competitions during the Idaho Student Leadership Conference, scheduled for April 16-18 in Boise. Collegiate FCCLA members are only eligible to compete in competitions at the national level. The 2025 FCCLA National Leadership Conference is scheduled for July 5-9 in Orlando, Florida.

Competitions cover FCS disciplines such as culinary arts, early childhood education and apparel, textiles and design. Participants must create a portfolio to present to judges. While in high school, Bishop competed in Say Yes to FCS, which entails playing the role of an FCS teacher and preparing a lesson plan, and she made a quilt from old T-shirts for the Repurpose and Redesign competition. FCCLA conferences also include educational sessions.

For more information about FCCLA or the shoe drive, contact Ginny Lane at 208-885-2538 or vlane@uidaho.edu.

First Endowed Deanship

The J.R. Simplot Family Foundation has made a significant gift to establish University of Idaho’s first endowed deanship in support of the land-grant institution’s broad efforts to benefit Idaho agriculture.

The J.R. Simplot Endowed Dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) pays homage to the Idaho-based agribusiness company’s founder, the late J.R. Simplot, and the Simplot family’s legacy within Idaho agriculture and with U of I.

Annual distributions from the endowment will support the CALS dean’s priorities in perpetuity. By providing sustained financial support, an endowed deanship ensures continuity in leadership and a stable foundation for long-term strategic planning. This stability enables the dean to pursue ambitious projects and invest in innovative initiatives. Such resources help attract top faculty members, improve student experiences and elevate the college’s contributions toward supporting and improving the agriculture industry.

“We’re grateful for the generosity of the J.R. Simplot Family Foundation,” U of I President Scott Green said. “It is fitting to name this dean after Simplot given the family’s legacy in Idaho and agriculture. This is a milestone for the U of I in establishing our first endowed dean’s position and we look forward to building on this great partnership.”

As the agricultural college for Idaho’s land-grant university, CALS is charged to advance the health and welfare of people, animals and the environment through research and education in agriculture, community, human and rural development, natural resources, nutrition and life sciences. In this role, the college collaborates extensively with stakeholders like the J.R. Simplot Company in fulfilling its mission. 

Agriculture is the engine that drives Idaho’s economy, representing 17% of the state’s total economic output in 2023, according to a report (pdf) by U of I agricultural economists.

“We’re thrilled to be able to help the U of I continue to lead in agriculture, innovating to find new ways to support farmers and feed a growing world population,” said Scott Simplot, chairman of the board for the J.R. Simplot Company and a U of I alumnus. “My dad was passionate about education and about agriculture so it’s fitting that we can combine two of his favorite things with this endowment.”

Michael P. Parrella, who will be retiring in June 2025, will be the first to hold the title of J.R. Simplot Endowed Dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

The university is embarking upon a national search for a new dean to build on the momentum the college has gained under Parrella’s leadership. Since he became dean in 2016, CALS has enjoyed unprecedented prosperity and made great strides toward expanding and improving its programs and research infrastructure throughout the state.

As a result of these efforts and successes, CALS is listed as the 13th best college of agricultural sciences in the U.S. in recent niche.com rankings for 2025.

Faces and Places

FCS director and professor of nutrition, Shelley McGuire, recently participated in the annual meeting of the National Academy of Medicine in Washington, DC. During the meeting, McGuire cochaired a symposium related to GLP-1 agonists, which are a class of medications that mainly help manage blood sugar in people with Type 2 diabetes. Some GLP-1 agonists can also help treat obesity.

The NIH-funded Center of Biomedical Research Excellence in Nutrition and Women's Health recently held its first annual retreat and advisory committee meeting in Sandpoint, Idaho. Advisory committee members who participated included Christopher Nomura (U of I), Julie Oxford (Boise State University), Marla Berry (University of Hawaii) and Janos Zempleni (University of Nebraska). Shelley McGuire, FCS director and professor of nutrition, is the center’s project director and principal investigator.

Sarah Deming recently accepted a tenure track assistant professor position in the human development and family studies and FCS teacher preparation divisions within the Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences.

Associate Professor Ling-Ling Tsao gave a talk about adverse childhood experiences to a group of about 50 local professionals at the “Building Resilience” training sponsored by the North Idaho Strengthening Families Coalition at Gritman Medical Center in Moscow on Nov. 1.

Colette DePhelps, an area UI Extension educator of community food systems, and Lorie Higgins, a professor and Extension specialist with the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, helped lead development of the Marketing Solutions Roundtable, hosted virtually on Nov. 6. The event, titled “Creating Regional Markets for Artisan Grains,” was hosted by the Climate Resilient Ag team of the six-state USDA-funded Northwest and Rocky Mountain Food Business Center.

Hernan Tejeda and Phil Watson, faculty members within the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, were featured in the Oct. 15 New York Times article “What a Crackdown on Immigration Could Mean for Cheap Milk.”

Idaho hosted the National Association of Extension 4-H Youth Development Professional (NAE4-HYDP) annual conference Oct. 14-16 in Boise. Claire Sponseller, an area UI Extension educator of 4-H STEM, was the conference chair and coordinated most of the details of the event.

Kendra Kaiser, director of the Idaho Water Resources Research Institute, presented to a large group of stakeholders during the recent biannual Treasure Valley Water Summit, hosted in Boise. Idaho Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke was also among the presenters. The event focused on the importance of long-term planning regarding water management and stretching Idaho's finite water resources.