Arizona Department of Agriculture Director to speak with AWC students
August 30, 2019Yuma, AZ (August 30, 2019) – Arizona Department of Agriculture Director Mark Killian will be a guest lecturer for the Livestock Production Management class at Arizona Western College on Wednesday, September 4.
Killian will speak to students about the Arizona Department of Agriculture and its role in animal agriculture throughout the state. The lecture will begin at 2 p.m. in the Agriculture and Science (AS) building in room 106 at the AWC Yuma Campus, 2020 S. Ave 8E. The media is invited to attend.
Governor Doug Ducey appointed Killian as the director of the Department of Agriculture in April of 2015. He has been involved in Arizona state government since 1983, and was the prime sponsor of the legislation that created the Arizona Department of Agriculture in the early 1990s while he served in the Arizona Legislature.
Killian comes from a family that has been involved in agriculture in Arizona for more than 100 years. His family farming and ranching operations spanned Colorado, New Mexico, Kentucky and California. Currently the Killian family is farming 1500 acres land in Pinal County, Arizona and ranching in Graham and Cochise counties in Arizona. The ranching operations runs cattle on 160,000 acres of land with a cow herd of 500. Killian also owns and operates a registered Angus cattle herd that produces bulls for the family ranching operation and markets to local ranchers in Arizona. To learn more about Killian, visit the Arizona Department of Agriculture’s website here.
The Livestock Production Management course is part of the Animal Production associate degree program that was recently developed and started by the AWC Agriculture Science Department to offer a pathway for students who are interested in working in the livestock industry, veterinarian medicine, or pre-professional careers.
“We work closely with the University of Arizona to ensure that the classes will transfer,” said AWC Agriculture Science Manager Leigh Loughead. “Students interested in a career in Animal Science can now stay in Yuma, earn their associate degree, and then transfer to the University of Arizona Main Campus in Tucson to complete their bachelor’s degree.”
Contact:
Leigh Loughead
Agriculture Science Manager
Arizona Western College
Leigh.Loughead@azwestern.edu
(928) 317-6246