Dr. Johnny and Jana Trotter
“ Dr. Trotter owns Bar-G Feedyard in Hereford, one of the country's largest individually owned cattle feeding operations. He's one of the founding members of WT's Buffalo Council, and was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2015. He and wife Jana have established several WT scholarships, including the Agriculture Graduation Success Plan Awards”
“I’ve gotten a lot of honors and recognition here in the last few years,” Trotter conceded, without much interest in talking about them at any length, “but it’s not about me. And, it’s not that I don’t appreciate them, but I don’t pay a lot of attention to them. I think it’s just about doing the right thing, being the right thing, and being with the right people.””
Dr. Joe A Sagebiel Lecture Hall (104)
Kurt Landis Video
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Stan and Greta Liles Classroom (207)
Stanton Dow Liles, III
September 13, 1946 - October 8, 2021
“Stanton graduated from Throckmorton High School and West Texas A&M University. Stanton and Greta (Nelson) married in Canyon, TX, 53 years ago. Stanton served in the National Guard. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church. He enjoyed gardening and caring for his many pets, especially his Jack Russell “Mr. Bojangles,” who was joined at his hip. Stanton was a rancher and farmer that lived in Throckmorton County all his life. Stanton was a man of the people that loved his hometown and tried to help any way he could. His other endeavors include oil, gas production and banking. He had a love for traveling and traveled the world with his wife Greta. He served on numerous boards and was a philanthropist.” - His obit
"N. Andy Cole grew up on a farm in the Texas Panhandle. He received a B.S. degree in Animal Science from West Texas State University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Animal Nutrition from Oklahoma State University. Since 1976, he has been a Research Animal Scientist at the USDA-ARS– Conservation and Production Research Laboratory in Bushland, TX where he currently serves as Research Leader of the Renewable Energy and Manure Management Research Unit. During the first 20 years of his career Dr Cole’s research concentrated on nutrition and management of transport-stressed feeder calves. Currently, his research focuses on environmental issues of importance to concentrated beef cattle feeding operations. He is an adjunct professor at West Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, Texas A&M University, and New Mexico State University and has served on 18 MS and 12 PhD committees. Dr. Cole has authored or coauthored over 200 publications, and has made more than 80 invited presentations to scientific and producer groups. He is a registered Professional Animal Scientist, and a charter Diplomate of the American College of Animal Nutrition. In 2005 he was the recipient of the ASAS Animal Management Award and in 2009 was named a Fellow of ASAS. In 2010 he was named Outstanding Senior Research Scientist in the Southern Plains Area of the USDA-ARS. Dr. Cole has served on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Animal Science and Professional Animal Scientist, and as a section editor of the Journal of Animal Science. He served as secretary of ARPAS from 2008 to 2011."
Spicer Gripp Research Lab (358)
Spicer Gripp was a Hereford, TX resident, who was loved and admired by many. He had a passion for rodeo and helping kids.
“The Spicer Gripp Memorial Youth Foundation (SGMYF) is honored to continue in Spicer’s bootsteps. Proceeds from the annual Spicer Gripp Memorial Event have been utilized to fund the Spicer Gripp Memorial Scholarship at West Texas A&M University. As of this year (2022) the SGMY Foundation has donated more than $1.2 million dollars and presented over 500 scholarships to WTAMU. This is an amazing accomplishment, as the foundation is a 100% volunteer organization.” - SGMYF
Piehl – Schaeffer Pavilion
The Piehl-Schaeffer Pavilion was constructed in 2018 as an addition to the Agricultural Sciences Complex. Approximately $5,000,000 was invested in this space to create opportunities to learn animal and agricultural care by WT faculty and students. The 77,000-square-foot space has the capacity to hold 500 people for various community and University events. Located at 600 WTAMU Drive, the pavilion is named after the Helen Piehl and Stanley Schaeffer families.
MapSharp also announced a $1.5 million gift from the Piehl and Schaeffer families to name one of the principal components of the facility – the Piehl-Schaeffer Pavilion.
The Piehl-Schaeffer Pavilion accommodates courses involving live animals, as well as special events for alumni and community partners. These facilities allow the department to offer new training and certification programs designed for industry professionals that aren’t offered at any other university in the state.
Canyon News
Stan and Gerry Sigman Grand Lobby (100)
The racing breeder and owner is a partner and the chairman of Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico. Sigman grew up in the Texas Panhandle, and rose to the top of the business world as the CEO and president of Cingular Wireless and AT&T and is regarded as a visionary in the wireless technology field, among countless other business accomplishments. The Sigman family operate their ranch under the name "Namgis," which is their last name spelled backwards, and breed and own racing Quarter Horses.
Sigman was instrumental in the industry-shaking AT&T partnership with Apple's iPhones, which allowed the telecommunications company to be the exclusive carrier of iPhones in the first years they were on the market. Paul Roth: "Apple saw an opportunity in the U.S. mobile market, so Steve Jobs went looking for a partner. He had a vision that Stan shared, but it required each company to do something neither had done before - to make an enormous bet on a partner. Until the day he died, Steve Jobs never forgot that Stan believed in him. Stan always said he never bet on a company. He bet on a person."
Stan Sigman is a 1970 WT graduate who worked his way up from a job in Southwestern Bell Telephone's Hereford warehouse to retiring as the president and chief executive officer of AT&T Mobility, the nation's largest wireless provider. He was named one of WT's Distinguished Alumni Award winners in 2007. The foundation made one of the first major donations to the recently completed Agricultural Sciences Complex, providing the stimulus to complete the nearly $50 million research and educational facility. "The Stan and Gerry Sigman Grand Lobby ... is a daily reminder of the impact the Sigman Foundation has on future agriculturalists, veterinarians, doctors, leaders and community members," said Dr. Kevin Pond, Dean of the Paul Engler College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences.
Zoetis Seminar Room (213)
Zoetis is the world’s leading animal health company. Our name comes from “Zoe,” the Greek word for life. The use of science to sustain life is at the foundation of everything we do. How can science create longer, more fulfilling lives for pets? Better life-saving treatments for veterinarians to use? More sustainable livelihoods for ranchers and livestock farmers, with safer food for the people they serve?
We answer all of these questions through a mixture of innovation and compassion, leaning on cutting-edge technologies and deep-seated connections to our communities to create advancements in animal health vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and technologies. We ensure science is always at the center of our journey forward.
Friona Industries Animal Health Research Lab (313)
Friona Industries, L. P. began as single small cattle feedyard in Amarillo, TX, in 1962 as the beef industry began to recognize the resources that existed in the Texas panhandle. Founding partners, like A.L. Black, were a group of cattle feeders who could see beyond the cattle to all the other businesses that cattle feeding supported: meat processing, feed manufacturing, and trucking, to name just a few.
Today, privately held Friona Industries has eight state-of-the-art feedyards in north Texas and southwest Kansas, with a feeding capacity that ranks us as the second largest cattle feeder in the United States. We continue to focus on a vertically aligned production system that creates a consistent, safe, tender and flavorful beef for branded product lines marketed in 2,300 retails stores in the U.S.
Friona Industries