Caitlyn Wileman

I have been accepted into Iowa State University’s PhD program starting Fall 2022. I will continue my education in swine nutrition with plans to complete the Preparing Future Faculty Program. My career objective is to work in academia after my PhD. I plan to stay in academia to help educate young adults on current events in the pork industry, apply real production scenarios in the classroom, bring in guest speakers for class, and announce any upcoming opportunities in the industry to students. I want to have a positive impact on students in the future as previous professors had on me. Showing livestock growing up has impacted my career objective by providing networking experiences for students at regional shows, virtual career roundtables, and working with the Maschhoffs that provide a leadership conference for scholarship recipients. The recent virtual career roundtables that have started during the pandemic have introduced me to Kylee Deniz and Dr. Ruth Inman, two of my role models and mentors in the industry today. After hearing them speak on the Facebook Live events, I followed up with them to set up one on one meetings to learn about their career pathways. These experiences led me to work closely with Kylee and Oklahoma Pork Council on numerous occasions. The Maschhoffs Leadership Conference and Seaboard Food’s Winternship allowed me to learn about other career pathways in the industry with advanced degrees including Research and Development and private sector nutritionists. I have considered these career pathways but believe that I can have a larger impact on the next generation of the pork industry by working in academia.