(October 27, 2009 Stillwater, OK) – The Alumni Association of the Oklahoma State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine selected four veterinarians who will receive a 2009 Distinguished Alumni Award at a luncheon in their honor on Friday, Oct. 30, at 11:30 a.m. in the ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center. This year’s recipients are Drs. James W. Carpenter (’74), Anthony W. Confer (’72), Robert S. Hudson (’55) and Gary L. White (’68). The luncheon is open to the public. Tickets cost $25 and are available through the veterinary center’s Continuing Education office (405) 744-7672.

“All of these men have made numerous contributions to the veterinary profession,” says Michael Lorenz, DVM, professor and dean of the Center for Veterinary Health Sciences. “From exotics to disease research to infertility and breeding to comparative medicine, these four have it covered.”

Carpenter is a Professor in the Department of Clinical Sciences at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University. He is internationally recognized as a clinical and research veterinarian in exotic animal, wildlife, and zoo animal medicine. 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.

Confer is recognized world-wide 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.

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 and is well-known for his theriogenology work.

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.

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.