SEMO PROFESSOR TO AGRICULTURE BOARD

William Ellis, professor of agriculture at Southeast Missouri State University, has been named to the board of directors of the National Swine Improvement Federation.

A member of the organization for 15 years, Ellis was elected to the board in early December and will serve a three-year term.

"It is quite an honor to be elected," Ellis said. "There never before has been a board member from a state university, as far as I know."

Ellis said that the board normally consists of professional breeders, and members of professional breeding companies and land-grant universities.

The National Swine Improvement Federation, founded in the early 1960s, is based at the University of Minnesota and has more than 500 members nationally. Its purpose is to establish guidelines for uniform swine improvement programs. The federation is concerned with improving swine breeding, nutrition and pork quality.

Ellis has been a professor of agriculture at Southeast for 16 years. He is also an active member of the American Society of Animal Scientists, the National Association of Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture, and the Missouri Academy of Science.