<< Return to Press Releases
Contact:
A CENTURY IN REVIEW:
THE POULTRY SCIENCE ASSOCIATION BEGINS PREPARATIONS FOR CENTENNIAL MEETING IN 2008
Event Will Highlight 100 Years of PSA History and Achievements and Focus Attention on New Opportunities for Poultry Researchers and the Industry
SAVOY, IL (May 21, 2007) – At 2 pm local time on Thursday, July 23, 1908, the first annual meeting of Poultry Instructors and Investigators, later known as The Poultry Science Association (PSA), got under way on the campus of Cornell University.
Nearly 100 years later, and with the 2007 Joint Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, just over a month way, PSA is already making preparations to celebrate its beginnings, and the subsequent accomplishments of the organization and its members, at PSA’s Centennial Meeting in 2008.
The Centennial Meeting is scheduled for July 20 – 23 in Niagara Falls, a location which, according to PSA, is meant to symbolize the organization’s roots in both the United States and Canada.
“PSA’s first two annual meetings were held, respectively, at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and at Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph, Canada. So we were, in that sense, literally an international organization from the start,” said Dr. Frank E. Robinson, Associate Dean and Professor of Poultry Production and Physiology at the University of Alberta, and Chair of PSA’s Centennial 2008 Committee.
An Expanding Mandate for Poultry Science
“A major focus 100 years ago for PSA was to find ways to get more chicken to market faster and cheaper by increasing poultry production efficiencies. Today, the focus on economics is still there, but it occurs in a research and industry environment that’s much more closely attuned to considerations about the ethical production of poultry and the impact of production on the environment. Today’s poultry scientists and PSA members are involved in areas as diverse as nutraceuticals, health, sustainable development and animal welfare, and poultry research in the university takes place not only in poultry science departments, but also in numerous other academic units within many universities. In addition, because we’ve seen how poultry research can impact areas outside of poultry science, including human health care, PSA has an interest in and emphasis on the broad dissemination of knowledge gleaned from poultry research,” said Dr. Robinson.
Early Years
PSA was founded in 1908 primarily through the efforts of two men: Dr. W. R. Graham of Guelph’s Ontario Agricultural College, and Dr. James E. Rice of Cornell University. Their efforts led the way to creating an annual forum for the sharing of information among early poultry scientists and instructors.
The 1908 meeting at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, had just 26 attendees. Dr. Rice gave the first welcoming address at a PSA meeting, and delivered the first paper: “Methods of Instruction in Poultry Husbandry.” The following year the annual meeting moved to the campus of Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph, and in 1910 to Iowa State College, in Ames, Iowa.
The success of these early meetings led to an interest in connecting with poultry production in Europe. At the 1911 meeting, held at the Maine Agricultural College, Orono, papers were presented concerning the poultry industry in Denmark, Germany, Great Britain and Russia. Ultimately, the interest in poultry husbandry in Europe led to the First World’s Poultry Congress, held in 1921 in The Hague, Holland.
Plans for the 2008 Meeting
To celebrate its centennial, PSA is creating a photograph-enriched souvenir book for attendees that will highlight the last 100 years of PSA. The book will focus on how research, teaching, and extension have impacted and changed the North American poultry industry.
There will be a display of posters, also available to others on CD and the PSA website, highlighting the history and contribution of industry and research and teaching institutions to poultry science and PSA. In addition, two posters will call attention to the contributions of notable women scientists to poultry science, and to the involvement of women in the history of PSA and the industry.
PSA will also select up to 10 “classic” papers, representing all areas of poultry science, to be reprinted in the PSA meeting supplement. The development, research results, and lasting impact of each of these original contributions will be discussed by one of the paper’s authors, or someone designated by or for them, in a symposium, “Landmark Contributions from the First 100 Years of Poultry Science,” during the Centennial Meeting. Symposium papers will be published in the July 2008 issue of Poultry Science, the monthly research journal published by PSA.
The July 2008 issue of Poultry Science will also include six papers on the future of poultry science. The papers will be solicited from three groups – students, PSA members and PSA retired members – with the two papers judged the best entries from each receiving publication.
The meeting will also feature a silent auction of poultry-related memorabilia (antique poultry equipment, books, etc.) to support funding of the PSA Foundation.
Official hard-copy PSA commemorative invitations to the 2008 Centennial Meeting will be designed and mailed to all poultry science students in the U.S. and Canada, all PSA members, all departments conducting poultry research, and all former (within the past 10 years) PSA speakers and winners of PSA awards.
“The 2008 Centennial will provide the opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve come as an organization, and to pay tribute to the many PSA members who have over the years contributed to the association’s and the poultry industry’s success. It will also give us a chance to focus our energies as a group on meeting current challenges and building a still stronger organization for the future,” said Dr. Andrew Giesen, PSA president.
About PSA
The Poultry Science Association (PSA) is a global scientific society dedicated to the discovery and dissemination of knowledge generated by poultry research – knowledge that enhances human and animal health and well-being and provides for the ethical, sustainable, and economical production of food. Founded in 1908, PSA has a global membership of about 3,500. For more information, go to www.poultryscience.org.
printable version
email link