To my fellow PSA Members,

First, let me thank you for the honor of serving as President of our Association this year. It is a humbling experience to follow in the footsteps of my many advisors and mentors that have served so selflessly over the years.

Below are some highlights from our mid-year Board meeting held prior to the IPPE convention in Atlanta, GA.

It is exciting to report that your Association is strong and growing. Membership and meeting attendance are at an all-time high and our journals continue to be the most respected scientific resource in the world. The publisher transition from OUP (Oxford) to Elsevier for both Poultry Science and JAPR is now behind us and thanks to our many volunteers, editors, reviewers, contributors and staff this seems to have been a resounding success. This move will not only increase our circulation and associated revenue security but also brings Open Access to our journals which should improve our readership and notoriety around the world.

By Q2 of this year, PSA will once again be self-sufficient, parting ways with the association management company FASS. This move gives us direct control of our finances, bank accounts, membership database and the ability to organize and conduct our own conferences. The PSA office staff has been expanded by 1 more full-time member, Rebecca Ries, who will be responsible for membership services and helping organize conferences for PSA. This brings our PSA office up to 5 full-time staff members.

The Ag-Guide nears completion, thanks so much to the tireless effort of Dr. Bruce Webster by leading edits for the poultry sections of this important manual. Our student members (The Hatchery) continue to be energetic and extremely active as they spread PSA influence globally. Our LATAM conference is scheduled for October 2020 in Iguazu Falls, Brazil and promises to draw and even bigger audience this year.

Finally, I encourage everyone to attend our annual conference July 20-23, 2020 in Louisville, KY. I am so excited about the venue, science, networking, and activities that are available at this great meeting. To our membership, I implore you to become more actively involved in our association. There is much to accomplish, and we need your help with initiatives, activities and especially reviewing manuscripts for our peer-reviewed journals.

Thanks to everyone for your influence, I look forward to seeing you all in Kentucky.

Donald R. McIntyre

President of PSA

Welcome Rebecca!

Rebecca Ries joined the Poultry Science Association team in the beginning of February as the Membership and Meetings Manager. Rebecca grew up in Waterloo, IL on a hobby farm, and her family had a variety of animals over the years, including chickens, turkeys, and ducks. Rebecca went to the University of Illinois and graduated with a degree in Animal Sciences. During her time at U of I, she began volunteering in Dr. Janice Bahr’s lab where she helped Dr. Bahr with her research on ovarian cancer using the spent hen as a model. It was during this time that Rebecca started to develop an interest in poultry. Her junior year of college Rebecca applied to the Midwest Poultry Consortium’s Center of Excellence Scholarship/Internship Program. This program allowed her to take 18 credit hours of classes all focused around poultry, and it paired her with an internship at Hy-Line International. At the completion of Rebecca’s two summer commitment with the Midwest Poultry Consortium’s program, she earned a poultry certification and immediately began working for Pilgrim’s in Mayfield, KY as a Management Trainee. This trainee opportunity landed her in the position of Human Resources Supervisor. In this position, Rebecca spent time recruiting, hiring, resolving employee conflicts, planning employee appreciation events, etc.

Rebecca knew she wanted to get back to Champaign-Urbana, so in time she moved on to a position with the Champaign County Humane Society as their Events and Marketing Coordinator. Rebecca is very eager to get back to the poultry industry and be able to combine her love for event planning, recruitment, and networking with her dedication to seeing the poultry industry thrive. Rebecca says she looks forward to working with and meeting all of the PSA members!

One fun fact about Rebecca is that she once brought 31 chicks home from class without her dad’s knowledge. Luckily, she said that her father is also a poultry fan and has actually maintained a small egg laying flock ever since.

Each staff member at PSA handles specific duties. If you have a question or need assistance, please be sure to contact the staff member whose duty it is to assist with your specific situation. This will ensure the quickest resolution.

Jacelyn Hemmelgarn

Executive Director

Can assist with:

Conference Sponsorship, Strategic Planning Initiatives, Donations, and Opportunities with PSA.

Jon Cole

Director of Business Operations

Can assist with:

Invoicing and Payments, Abstract and Symposium Submissions, Latin American Scientific Conference, Awards, and Volunteer Inquires

David Busboom

Managing Editor

Can assist with:

Journals, Manuscript Submissions, and Editorial Manager

Sam Shafer

Communications Specialist

Can assist with:

Website, eNewsletter, Marketing Materials, Social Media, Outreach, and Public Relations

Deadlines Reminder

Please take note that the following deadlines are approaching soon:

Special Ticketed Event Request

February 27, 2020

If your company/organization is planning to host an event at the Annual Meeting and tickets are to be sold in advance, please complete this form so your event can be included in the meeting's registration form.

Submit an Event Request Here

2020 Awards Nominations

March 2, 2020

Nominations for all awards presented at the Annual Meeting are to be submitted by the deadline. This does not include Fellows Nominations, which have already closed for 2020.

Submit a Nominee Here

Conference Tentative Schedule

Please take note that the following deadlines are approaching soon:

Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Thursday, July 23, 2020

Abstracts are being accepted until the deadline on Tuesday, April 7, 2020 at 11:59 PM EST. Please be sure to read the 2020 Instructions for Submission of Abstracts and the 2020 Abstracts Guidelines before submitting your abstract. Both of these documents can be accessed through the PSA website at the link below along with the abstract submission site.

The Galt House Hotel, a Trademark Collection Hotel by Wyndham, is the site of the 2020 PSA Annual Meeting.

Online reservations are being accepted. A dedicated booking website has been created so guests can make, modify and cancel hotel reservations online, as well as take advantage of any room upgrades, amenities or other services offered by the hotel.

Abstracts are being accepted now through the deadline on April 30, 2020. More information about abstracts, requirements, and accessing the submission site can be found here .

If you are interested in sponsoring at the 2020 Latin American Scientific Conference, please contact Jacelyn Hemmelgarn.

Darrin Karcher (Purdue University) and Deana Jones (USDA ARS) in conjunction with USDA AMS have developed training modules on pre-operative sanitation inspection for egg processing equipment. The goal of the videos is to increase the knowledge of egg producers, government officials, and consumers on what is required to produce a safe and high quality product. Over the course of 2020, new videos will be released until all aspects of the processing equipment and facility have been covered.

C.G. Scanes

This thoroughly revised fifth edition of Scanes’ seminal, comprehensive text presents students and professionals alike with valuable, research-based material relevant to all stages of a poultry career. Areas covered include global and commercial poultry production; poultry business organization; and production of meat chickens (broilers), turkeys, eggs, ducks, geese, game birds, and other poultry.

Colin G. Scanes is an adjunct professor in the Center for Excellence in Poultry Science at the University of Arkansas. He has published extensively in poultry and animal science, with 16 books and over 600 papers. He is a fellow of the Poultry Science Association and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.