Posted: January 30, 2019
Felix is a recipient of the 2018 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Teaching Award of Merit.
Tara L. Felix, PAS, Ph.D, Assistant Professor and Extension Beef Specialist in the Department of Animal Science, has been named a recipient of the 2018 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Teaching Award of Merit. She will be recognized at NACTA's national conference at the College of Southern Idaho in June.
She has been part of the Extension Livestock Team since 2016 and also teaches a class on contemporary issues in animal science. She chairs the Animal Science Department's curriculum steering committee which guides the Department's undergraduate programs.
Dr. Terry Etherton, Head of the Department of Animal Science, said, "I offer sincere congratulations to Tara for this well-deserved national recognition. She has a very strong commitment to excellence in teaching that has long been a legacy in the Department. She is an extraordinary mentor to students and is highly sought by those who wish to pursue undergraduate research opportunities in beef cattle nutrition."
NACTA is a professional society that focuses on the scholarship of teaching and learning agriculture and related disciplines at the postsecondary level. The award is presented within the College of Agricultural Sciences in recognition of Felix's outstanding commitment and dedication as a faculty member, mentor and teacher, and her contributions to continuing excellence in teaching.
Felix graduated from Penn State with an Animal Bioscience degree, received her M.S. at the University of Florida studying trace minerals and earned her Ph.D. from the Ohio State University in ruminant nutrition. Prior to joining the Department of Animal Science at Penn State, Felix was assistant professor of beef cattle nutrition and management at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
She received the Arthur W. Nesbitt Faculty Program Development Award from the College of Agricultural Sciences in 2017 and used these funds to support applied research in cattle metabolism studies. The study has been conducted in three parts and is being used to develop feeding programs for Holstein steers that will optimize their utilization as beef.
A native of Venango County, PA, she lives with her husband Jonathan and three daughters in State College.
