Kansan interns from OSU
By Steve Suther
Jenny Gillespie, a Master’s student at Oklahoma State University (OSU), has joined the team working for the Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand as the fall 2011 Industry Information intern.
The Copeland, Kan., native earned a bachelor’s in international agribusiness from Kansas State University (K-State) in December 2009. A couple of years earlier, a trip to the Philippines had sparked her interest in those areas and led to studies in agricultural economics, international trade, and Spanish. She enjoyed a three-week ag study tour across Central America, too.
Gillespie worked as a USDA intern in Washington, D.C., for six months before starting the M.S. in agricultural communications at OSU. Gathering even more experience, she has been serving as a graduate teaching assistant, student editor for the Journal of Applied Communications and an intern with the university’s SUNUP television program.
Interested in agricultural advocacy and communication technologies, Gillespie spent the past summer working on her Master’s research into how much credence ranchers give to social media.
“Our team is fortunate to have Jenny’s experience and dedication as a resource this fall,” said Steve Suther, CAB divisional director. “Her research broke new ground in an emerging area of journalism and we’ll make use of those findings as will the broader industry.”
Gillespie is working with the CAB team from her Stillwater, Okla., base to produce feature stories, news releases, video scripts and Web content that help cattlemen profitably hit the CAB brand target.
The Certified Angus Beef ® brand, started in 1978, relies on strict quality standards to ensure consumers “taste the difference.” The only branded beef company owned by the 33,000 rancher-members of the American Angus Association, CAB is headquartered in Wooster, Ohio, where Gillespie attended an information seminar in March.
For more information on the brand, visit www.certifiedangusbeef.com. For ideas on producing cattle to hit that target, and to view CAB industry information articles, visit www.cabcattle.com.
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