OVERVIEW of the DEPARTMENT of
POULTRY SCIENCE

and THE CENTER of EXCELLENCE for
POULTRY SCIENCE

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
and the Division of Agriculture



The Poultry Science Department consists of approximately 30 faculty in various fields of study. The Center of Excellence for Poultry Science includes 5 scientists from USDA-ARS and associated faculty from several departments at the Fayetteville campus and from other campuses within the State of Arkansas. Undergraduate, M.S. and Ph.D. programs are offered by the Department. Please visit our future and current student links to learn more about becoming a student.

The Poultry Science Department/Center of Excellence for Poultry Science is housed in an 112,000-square-foot office, laboratory and classroom complex located on the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, campus. Additional poultry science facilities are located within close proximity to the campus and include a poultry research farm, a pilot processing plant, a feed mill, a poultry health and isolation unit, and commercial style research farms for broilers and broiler breeders. Please view our facilities web page for more information on our state-of-the-art facilities.

The Center is part of the University of Arkansas System's Divison of Agriculture and poultry faculty members are employed as researchers for the Division and its Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.

MISSION STATEMENT:
The Center of Excellence for Poultry Science shall provide comprehensive programs in research, teaching, and extension dedicated to improving the lives of Arkansans associated with all components of the poultry industry by generating knowledge through research and putting that knowledge to use through education. 

BROAD OBJECTIVES:
The Center of Excellence for Poultry Science shall develop the knowledge and intellectual capacity to meet the specific needs of poultry production/ processing/ marketing firms to help them remain competitive in a global economy. The CEPS shall meet the needs of society regarding issues such as food safety and security, human nutrition, animal health and well-being, and environmental stewardship.

Within the Center is a campus-wide DNA resource Center, a departmental Cell Sorting and Characterization Center(Director, Dr. Gisela Erf, gferf@uark.edu) and a State-Wide Mass Spectrometry Laboratory (Director, Dr. Jack Lay,jlay@uark.edu). There is also a Central Analytical Laboratory (Linda Kirby, lkirby@uark.edu) for the analyses of samples from both on and off-campus.

If you are interested, copies of the Poultry Centers 2005 strategic plan and the 2005 CSREES departmental review are available here for you to download (in PDF format).