Developed in 1999 as Louis M. “Mick" Colvin retired as Executive Director, the scholarship recognizes his role in making dreams a reality and inspiring others to be their best. Colvin co-founded the Certified Angus Beef Program in 1978, leading it to provide the world’s leading brand of fresh beef. The scholarship fund benefits tomorrow’s leaders who are involved in their communities and the beef industry.

2013 Graduate Colvin Scholarship Awards:

$5,000 scholarship award
Bryan Bernhard
Oklahoma State University

Bryan Bernhard, second-year PhD student at OSU who won the $5,000 award, conducted the Beef Checkoff-supported study entitled, "Skeletal muscle differentially influences marbling development through IGF-I and myostatin pathways in growing versus finishing beef cattle." Results may be applied to strategies that enhance marbling development, including implant programs.

"The outcome of this research project will improve our understanding of the interaction between muscle growth and marbling development in cattle during growing and finishing phases," Bernhard said, noting that leads to increased beef quality and consumer demand. He plans to join a university faculty to work on cattle feeding efficiency, product quality and safety while educating future animal scientists.

$1,000 scholarship award
Dustin Mohrhauser
South Dakota State University

Dustin Mohrhauser, a third-year PhD student at South Dakota State University who grew up on an Angus cow-calf operation, received a $1,000 discretionary scholarship for demonstrating exceptional leadership and outstanding scholastic achievement.

He directs Midwest student membership for the American Meat Science Association and holds an International Livestock Congress Travel Fellowship. Mohrhauser’s primary research explores the impact of maternal nutrition on calf performance and grade, and he also works on the leptin genotype connection to carcass quality and means of reducing dark cutting beef.

2013 Undergraduate Colvin Scholarship Awards:

$5,000 scholarship award
Paige Wallace
Oklahoma State University

Paige Wallace drew upon her family’s cow-calf operation in southwest Missouri in naming drought, public perception of the beef industry and land availability as the obstacles. She said science holds the key to overcoming many of those.

The Oklahoma State University (OSU) junior wrote, "As technology increases and farmers continue to strive for success, I am confident in beef production sustainability."
Wallace, an agricultural communications major, holds broadcasting positions with "The Angus Report" and "Oklahoma Horizon." She said her passion for that field will lead her to explore such career opportunities while raising the show cattle that helped shape her upbringing.

$4,000 scholarship award
Mollie Lastovica
Texas A&M University

Texas A&M senior and $4,000 Colvin Scholarship winner Mollie Lastovica cited an "information gap" that can only be filled with education. Even as marketers try to build demand with niche labels, consumers may not understand differences between "organic," "natural" or "grass-fed" without industry efforts. The double major in agricultural journalism and political science already does her part with professional roles for the Texas Brangus Association, the International Red Brangus Breeders Association and her family’s Lastovica Angus Farm.

$3,000 scholarship award
Malorie Bankhead
California Polytechnic State University

Malorie Bankhead sees a connection between faltering consumer trust and beef demand at a 10-year low, best countered by reaching out to consumers on a personal level. The California Polytechnic State University senior and $3,000 award winner said the key is to "continue telling our beef story." She honed those skills through the National Beef Ambassador program and a CAB internship.

$2,000 scholarship award
Kassandra Pfeiffer
Oklahoma State University

OSU junior Kassandra Pfeiffer said education can help consumers see the connection between input costs and food prices, and that can sustain beef prices at their premium to other proteins: "A great way to promote our products would be to show videos in grocery stores of farms, to give the public an idea of where their food comes from." The animal science major and former state junior Angus association president has livestock judging team experience and plans to put her $2,000 Colvin award toward an advanced degree.

$1,000 scholarship award
Reagan Kays
Kansas State University

Reagan Kays, a junior at Kansas State University (KSU) and $1,000 Colvin award winner, said population growth will increase beef demand so the challenge is just keeping up with it sustainably. Experiences in Brazil and the Czech Republic led him to a passion for helping close the productivity gap by sharing "knowledge, innovation and technologies." Kays, who wants to try that through the Peace Corp in South America, co-owns a 55-head purebred Angus herd with his brother, and currently serves as a legislative assistant in KSU’s Office of the President.

Stay tuned for 2014 scholarship details.