University of Nevada, Reno reboots meat science program
For more than a hundred years, the College of Agriculture at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) has provided high educational standards for students. In 1993, the organizational structure of the College and its departments was changed to suit student needs. This led to a change of its name to College of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Natural Resources. Although agriculture has always been an important part of the college, the meat science program was dormant since 2006 after Dr. Tom Ringkob, the meat science program leader, retired from his assigned college duties.
Nevada’s agriculture production has a significant impact on the state. Meat animals represent 37% of all commodities and play a crucial role in the state’s economic system. Therefore, a meat science program was an essential pre-requisite for the sole state land-grant university. In 2015, after an 11-year hiatus, the college established an important agricultural education milestone by re-creating a meat science program that would also focus on food safety.