COLLEGE STATION Elizabeth (Liz) Hirschler, who is with the department of poultry science at Texas A&M University, received the inaugural Poultry Science Association Technical Support Staff award during the association’s recent meeting in Madison, Wis.
Hirschler was previously a research assistant in the department and is now the department’s distance education program coordinator.
The award recognizes the long-term contributions by support personnel.
“She has helped train many graduate students, been a lifesaver in the many years with my lab, and has been instrumental in bringing our distance education program on-line,” said Dr. Alan Sams, department head.
He said many of the students Hirschler helped train had no idea of research or laboratory procedures when they started.
“Her technical ability, organizational skills and cooperative demeanor are exhibited on a daily basis,” Sams wrote in her nomination.
Since being moved into the distance education program coordinator position in 2001, Hirschler has developed four Web-based courses and has four others in progress. She has been responsible for bringing on-line the country’s first distance education master’s degree in poultry science.
Hirschler began working for the department as a technical assistant in 1991. She worked as a research assistant for eight years. She earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in animal science from Texas A&M in 1985 and 1991, respectively.
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