(August 24, 2009 Stillwater, OK) – The Oklahoma State University’s (OSU) Center for Veterinary Health Sciences announced the 2009 OSU College of Veterinary Medicine Distinguished Alumni Award recipients today. With many highly qualified alumni nominated, the Alumni Association officers selected Drs. James W. Carpenter (’74), Anthony W. Confer (’72), Robert S. Hudson (’55) and Gary L. White (’68).

Carpenter is a Professor, Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, and is internationally recognized as a clinical and research veterinarian in exotic animal, wildlife, and zoo animal medicine. He is the author of 350 scientific papers, book chapters, and proceedings articles, and editor of two books on exotic animal medicine. He is the former Editor of the Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine and the present Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery. He was named Exotic DVM of the Year for 2000, and was awarded the Edwin J. Frick Professorship in Veterinary Medicine from the KSU CVM in 2002. Carpenter is the Past-President of both the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians and the Association of Avian Veterinarians, and is the current President of the American College of Zoological Medicine.

Confer is recognized internationally for his research, especially his work focusing on bovine respiratory research. He holds the Walter Sitlington Chair for Food Animal Research at OSU and is a Regents Professor of Veterinary Pathobiology. He has received numerous teaching and research awards and he is the 2003 OSU Eminent Faculty Award winner. Confer is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists and is active in many professional organizations including the American Society of Microbiology and the Veterinary Comparative Respiratory Society.

Hudson began excelling in veterinary medicine as a student at OSU. He received the McElroy Award, the highest honor an OSU veterinary student can earn. Hudson is currently a Professor Emeritus of Large Animal Surgery and Medicine at Auburn University. A Diplomate of the American College of Theriogenologists, he is known internationally for his theriogenology work. He also is active in professional organizations including the American Association of Bovine Practitioners and is a charter member of the Society for Study of Reproduction.

White serves as director of Comparative Medicine at the University of Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center (OUHSC), principal investigator and program director of two National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Resource Grants, director of the University of Oklahoma Ft. Reno Research Park, professor in the Department of Pathology, College of Medicine at the OUHSC, and more. White has achieved success in many aspects of veterinary medicine—as a clinical veterinarian, an educator, a military officer, and as principal investigator of 14 NIH Grant Awards. He, too, is active in professional organizations including the NIH Comparative Medicine Directors Group and the American Association of Laboratory Animal Science.

The honorees will receive their awards during the veterinary center’s annual Fall Veterinary Conference scheduled for Oct. 29 and 30, 2009, at the Wes Watkins Center on the OSU Stillwater campus. The Distinguished Alumni Award Luncheon will be at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 30, at the ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center. Tickets may be purchased for $25 each from the veterinary center’s Continuing Education Office by calling (405) 744-7672.

The Oklahoma State University Center for Veterinary Health Sciences is one of 28 veterinary colleges in the United States and is fully accredited by the Council on Education of the American Veterinary Medical Association. The center’s Boren Veterinary Medial Teaching Hospital is open to the public and provides routine and specialized care for small and large animals. It also offers 24 hour emergency care and is certified by the American Animal Hospital Association. For more information, visit www.cvhs.okstate.edu or call (405) 744-7000.

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