Retirement is a new phase for Jim and me. We enjoy remaining connected to people at the University and across the region who have been such a large part of our lives. We are grateful to have time to travel, visit with family and friends (some from long ago), garden, and do a host of things we have talked about doing but never seemed to have enough free time to pursue. We are especially enjoying our new place in Ocean View, Delaware, where we are usually on or around the water, always mesmerized by the ospreys and great blue herons, and sometimes digging up interesting artifacts in our yard as we recently discovered that our property once was the site of the historic Indian River Lodge."

Dr. Tara Gaab joined the department in July 2022 as an assistant professor of animal science. Dr. Gaab earned her B.S. in Animal Sciences from The Pennsylvania State University in 2013 and continued on to earn her veterinary degree (VMD) from the University of Pennsylvania in 2017. Upon graduation, she completed an internship in 2018 and a subsequent food animal clinical residency in 2022 with the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center Field Service department. During her five years of clinical work her primary role was to serve dairy, beef, small ruminant and swine clients in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware (including UD’s Webb Farm and Dairy!). Dr. Gaab focused on promoting the health and wellbeing of her food and fiber animal patients through preventative care, emergency medicine, surgery and consultation in the field. She simultaneously earned her veterinary board certification in animal welfare through the American College of Animal Welfare in June of 2022. Throughout that process, Dr. Gaab performed two separate independent research projects and published papers on multimodal pain protocol efficacy in disbudded dairy calves and on the welfare implications and development of shoulder ulcers in production sows.

Dr. Gaab’s varied background and diverse areas of expertise will serve to bolster the thriving animal science and pre-veterinary medicine programs here at the University. She will provide unique perspectives and opportunities for our students in a variety of classes and labs. Her goal is to prepare students seeking careers in veterinary medicine and animal care so they can be innovative professionals who will be successful in their future endeavors. In fall 2022, she taught Animal Behavior and Introduction to Equine Science. This spring she taught Functional Anatomy of Domestic Animals and Equine Disease and Lameness. She also lectured on new FDA antimicrobial guidelines, the importance of good veterinary-client-patient relationships, and Cache Valley Virus at this year’s Delaware Ag Week.

Dr. Gaab anticipates continuing to educate the local producer and veterinary communities on best animal care practices, and she hopes to advance the integration of animal welfare subjects into the animal science, pre-veterinary medicine, and animal biosciences curricula through collaboration, modification of courses, and extracurricular opportunities for students.

Dr. Adrienne Shearer joined the Department of Animal and Food Sciences faculty in August 2022. She brings a wealth of experience to this position as she was a research associate in our department for 24 years. Her research was focused on microbial food safety, and she worked on foodborne disease agents ranging from viruses and bacteria to parasites. During this time, she was also involved in teaching and especially food safety education. Prior to joining UD, she worked at the National Food Processors Association and Townsends, Inc. focused on food safety, quality, and regulatory compliance.

Dr. Shearer is a triple UD alumna having earned B.S. in Food Science, M.S. in Food Science, and Ph.D. in Animal and Food Sciences degrees. Current responsibilities include teaching various undergraduate courses for ANFS majors and non-majors and teaching Cooperative Extension food safety workshops for the community.

Food Law and Regulations and Sensory Evaluation are topics with which every food scientist requires familiarity. Although all our food science courses touch on these topics, an entire course was devoted to them in Fall 2022. One half of the course dealt with topics ranging from the constitutional basis of U.S. food law to such questions as to why cheese pizza is regulated by the FDA but pepperoni pizza falls under the jurisdiction of the USDA. (Answer: Items with a meat content of more than 3 percent are regulated by the USDA). In the second half of the course, students were introduced to the field of sensory evaluation of food. They learned about such basic items as the cellular structures underlying taste and smell and also the applied methodology of the field. In one test, sensory attributes of UDairy Creamery’s cheddar were compared to those of store-bought cheddars. 

Our new Sensory Evaluation Lab allowed students to experience sensory evaluation tests in a realistic setting. The lab houses 10 sensory evaluation booths that are equipped with appropriate light sources, and new tablets to allow for electronic recording of the responses from the sensory panel. While the Sensory Evaluation Lab is a teaching space for our food science students, it is also intended as a lab for sensory evaluation of products from entities outside the University. 

The Animal Science Club had a busy year full of great events! In the spring, they wrapped up the Northeast Student Affiliate (NESA) livestock judging and quiz bowl competition at Delaware Valley University. Additionally, they had several hands-on events such as volunteering with the Brandywine Valley SPCA for an adoption event, helping at the Ritter Farm with hoof trimming and vaccinations, and sending several members to an artificial insemination training at a local farm. In 2022 they saw the return of Ag Day, in which the Animal Science Club took on the role of having one of the largest tents at the event, which housed sheep, lambs, a cow, and a calf as well as various other stations. As always, the sheep shearing with Dr. Griffiths’ narration and Webb farm manager Larry Armstrong’s demonstration was a huge favorite! They ended their semester with volunteering at Tri-State Bird Rescue Open House, holding a goat social fundraiser, and celebrating the year with a banquet.

In the fall, the Animal Science Club members started the semester with a social event at Cowtown and quickly jumped in with a livestock event at Steve Cook’s farm helping vaccinate and dehorn several cows. October was busy as they saw vet school speakers, shadowed Penn veterinarians on Webb farm, toured the Brandywine Zoo, and held their annual pumpkin sale. Other highlights in the fall were a suture workshop, a Delaware Humane Association service event, and a long-awaited holiday social at Dr. Griffiths’ house. As they headed into the new semester, the Animal Science Club traveled to the University of Maine for NESA 2023. Despite the long travel time and cold temperatures, their teams were able to enjoy the quiz bowl and livestock judging, which included the mystery category of oysters! The teams placed in the top half of the competition, at 15th and 10th place for Teams Blue and Gold.

During fall 2022, The Food Science Club was able to come together and have some great times. They started the semester with their annual ice cream social at UDairy Creamery, where they met some great new members and enjoyed ice cream. During October, they had a chance to get festive and celebrate Halloween with their Pumpkin Fest. They tried many different pumpkin snacks and socialized with each other. They even heard about the industry from recent UD alumni from Kraft Heinz on Zoom! They rounded out the semester with a study and snack session to help each other study for finals. They can't wait to meet new members and what's to come in the Spring semester, including participating in Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) College's Bowl and Ag Day!