Case Study: Activists – Stirring Active and ‘Hostile’ Discussions
Lee J. Johnston
Dr. Johnston has been a faculty member in the Department of Animal Science at the University of Minnesota since 1988 and has reached the rank of Professor. He is located at the West Central Research and Outreach Center in rural, western Minnesota. Dr. Johnston’s current responsibilities include delivering educational programs to pork producers and other industry professionals, conducting swine nutrition and management research, and supervising the West Central Research and Outreach Center’s swine research unit. His primary research interests are nutrition and management of the sow, feed ingredient evaluation, renewable energy use in pork production, and management of systems for pork production. As a part of this work, Lee has published 159 scientific papers, 210 scientific abstracts, 7 book chapters, and secured $10 million in research support. Dr. Johnston served as Director of Operations for his research center for over 12 years. In that role, he oversaw budgets, personnel, communications, and community relations of the Center and its research programs that included agronomy, dairy, horticulture, renewable energy and swine. Lee was named the Distinguished Alumnus by the Penn State Department of Dairy and Animal Science in 2014 and that same year was named a “Master of the Pork Industry” by National Hog Farmer magazine. Dr. Johnston received his B.S. in Animal Production from Pennsylvania State University in 1982, his M.S. in Swine Nutrition from Texas Tech University in 1984 and his Ph.D. in Swine Nutrition and Management from Michigan State University in 1988. Dr. Johnston and his wife, Judy, live on a small farm in Morris, MN and operate a small flock of Dorset ewes. Lee and Judy have a daughter and son that are graduates of the University of Minnesota’s Department of Animal Science and are employed in agriculture.
Claire Stenhouse
Dr. Stenhouse is currently an Assistant Professor of Reproductive Biology in the Department of Animal Science at Pennsylvania State University. Her research utilizes sheep and swine to investigate molecular signaling between the conceptus (fetus and associated placental membranes) and the endometrium during pregnancy recognition, implantation, and placentation. She is particularly interested in the regulation of placental mineral transport, and the mechanisms regulating intrauterine growth restriction, with a goal of generating new knowledge to improve pregnancy success in both women and livestock. Dr. Stenhouse is passionate about engaging the general public in scientific research and ensuring that academic research will generate findings that will benefit the general public. Dr. Stenhouse received her BSc(hons) in Biological Science (Reproductive Biology) in 2013, MSc (distinction)in Reproductive Sciences in 2014, and PhD in Developmental Biology in 2018 from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She was a Postdoctoral Researcher and then an Assistant Research Scientist in Physiology of Reproduction, Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University from 2018-2023.