David Thomas, Professor of Animal Sciences, grew up in the rural community of Mineral Point
in southwestern Wisconsin. He raised and exhibited purebred Hampshire sheep through high
school and college. He earned the B.S. degree in Meat and Animal Science from UW–Madison
in 1971. While at UW he was Chancellor of the Babcock Chapter of Alpha Zeta, an officer in
the Saddle and Sirloin Club, and a member of the Meat Animal Evaluation Team. From 1971 to
1973, he and his wife served as U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers in Kenya where he worked in
animal husbandry extension. Dr. Thomas received both the M.S. (1975) and Ph.D. (1977)
degrees in Animal Breeding from Oklahoma State University under the direction of Dr. Joe
Whiteman. Prior to joining the faculty at Madison in 1991, he served on the faculties at Oregon
State University (1977-81) and the University of Illinois (1981-91). At UW–Madison, he has an
appointment in research, teaching, and extension. His research deals with the genetic
improvement of performance traits in sheep, sheep management, and sheep dairying. He has
been recognized for his research accomplishments by the American Society of Animal Science
with the Rockefeller Prentice Memorial Award in Animal Breeding and Genetics in 2003 and the
Animal Management Award (awarded jointly with his research colleague, Yves Berger) in 2004.
Dr. Thomas teaches Sheep Production (AnSci 430), co-teaches Introduction to Animal and
Veterinary Genetics (AnSci/DySci 361) and Principles of Animal Breeding (AnSci/DySci 363),
and teaches two courses in the Farm and Industry Short Course: 1) Beef and Swine Breeding and
2) Sheep Management. He serves as the Wisconsin Sheep Extension Specialist. He has worked
on livestock development projects in Kenya, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Armenia and was awarded the Bouffalt International Animal
Agriculture Award from the American Society of Animal Science in 2005 for these activities.
He and his wife, Lynda, have three children and three granddaughters. In his spare time, he
enjoys gardening, tracing family genealogy, and traveling.