By Whitney Baxter
Dawn Koltes wants to increase Iowa State University students’ awareness of the many opportunities available within the poultry industry in Iowa and beyond.
“There’s a lot of poultry production in Iowa, but students often don’t realize poultry is an option when they come here to study animal science or that it’s as prevalent as it is in the state,” said Koltes, an assistant professor of animal science.
Iowa is the No. 1 egg-producing state, with more than 40 million laying hens, and the state’s egg producers create more than 7,000 jobs, according to the North Central Poultry Association.
Through the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Innovation and Entrepreneurship Faculty Fellows program, Koltes recently developed a new course and co-led a study abroad program to Brazil and Argentina to expand students’ exposure to the poultry industry.
Formerly, animal science students could take ANS 2230: Poultry Science, one of a series of species-specific courses offered. However, that was the only poultry-specific course in the curriculum. Koltes changed that by creating ANS 4230: Poultry Systems Management, which will now be offered each spring.
Eight students enrolled in the course during the spring 2026 semester. Assignments included addressing an issue in the poultry industry. Students were divided into smaller groups with rotating leaders to problem solve.
Source : iastate.edu