Duane Wulf

The AMSA Distinguished Teaching Award was established in 1965 to recognize excellence in the teaching of undergraduate and graduate meat science courses and the impact on the lives of those students in a highly positive manner.

The 2007 AMSA Distinguished Teaching Award is sponsored by Kraft Foods/Oscar Mayer Division.

Dr. Duane M. Wulf is a professor in the Department of Animal and Range Sciences at South Dakota State University (SDSU). Duane was number ten of eleven children, born to Leonard and Violet Wulf in Morris, Minnesota. Growing up on his family’s Limousin farm, Leonard Wulf and Sons, Inc., the value and importance of production agriculture and livestock were bestowed on him at a young age. Duane was the first in his family to pursue a college education. While pursuing a B.S. degree in Animal Science at SDSU, Duane worked at the SDSU meat laboratory and as a meat research assistant. He was a member of the 1987 SDSU meat judging team. In 1989, Duane obtained his B.S. and then continued at SDSU for his M.S. while coaching the meat judging team from 1990 to 1992. Duane coached the National Champion CSU meat judging team in 1995 and received his Ph.D. in 1996 from Colorado State University.

 

Upon completion of graduate studies, Dr. Wulf consulted for Continental Sausage Company in Denver, Colorado, and then accepted a position as Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University. In the spring of 1999, Duane returned to SDSU where he teaches three undergraduate meat science courses, advises more than 30 undergraduates annually and currently advises seven graduate students. He serves as faculty coordinator for the meat judging program and meat laboratory.

Duane excels at sparking students’ interests and bridging the link between classroom education and real-world scenarios. He believes that undergraduate education is extremely important and that an undergraduate career should not only focus on course work, but also learning lifelong skills, such as time management, organization, and communication and leadership skills. Duane has been named SDSU’s College of Agricultural and Biological Sciences Teacher of the Year. Many students at SDSU credit him for sparking an interest in meat science and opening new doors of opportunity. Additionally, Dr. Wulf is actively involved in consumer, producer, and youth educational programs and events and numerous research projects where instruction is crucial. Annually, he works with events such as Beef 20/20, and Little I, as well as 4-H, FFA, and intercollegiate meat judging contests.

Dr. Wulf resides in rural Brookings, South Dakota, with his wife, Ann, and five children: Cassidy, Axel, Zachariah, Garret, and Marshall.