KRIRM Lectureship Instructors
Prescribed Burning Instructors:
Lynn Drawe, PhD 
Retired Director
Welder Wildlife Foundation
P.O. Box 1400
Sinton, Texas 78387
(361) 364-2643
Lynn Drawe is the Director of the Welder Wildlife Foundation, and is responsible for overseeing its operations and 7,800-acre wildlife refuge in Sinton, Texas. He is best known for his research on plant community ecology, prescribed burning, and wildlife-livestock interactions, and native rangeland plants of south Texas. He authored and coauthored numerous publications on the native vegetation of south Texas, and consults on many of the region’s large and historic ranches. Lynn has received numerous distinguishing awards from the Society for Range Management, Texas Tech University, Utah State University, and is a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International. He also serves as adjunct faculty at both Texas A&M University and Texas Tech University, as well as here at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. Lynn currently chairs the Texas Prescribed Burning Board, appointed by Texas Commissioner of Agriculture, which has written the rules for certification of prescribed burn managers in the state.
Wayne Hanselka, PhD
Retired Assoc. Dept. Head/Professor, Texas A&M and AgriLife Extension
Rangeland Ecology Specialist
Dr. Hanselka retired as Associate Department Head, Professor and Extension Range Specialist in the Department of Rangeland Ecology and Management at Texas A&M University. He is officed at the Texas A&M Research and Extension Center at Corpus Christi. Dr. Hanselka received his BS (1966), his MS (1968) and his Ph.D. (1973 in Wildlife Sciences from Texas A&M University. He taught four years (1972- 1976) at Sul Ross State University and joined the Texas Agricultural Extension Service in 1976. He is responsible for planning, implementing, and evaluating county, regional and District Range Management Extension educational programs for ranchers and other land managers, and various clientele on over 23 million acres in 38 South Texas counties. This includes the lower Post Oak Savannah, mid and lower Coastal Prairies, and Rio Grande Plains (South and Coastal Bend Extension Districts).
His programs focus on a number of facets concerning rangeland management. These include range-livestock-wildlife relationships; forage systems-grazing interactions; (i.e., forage quality and animal nutrition, stocking and grazing methods, brush management systems, alternative forages such as prickly pear, and buffalograss dynamics and management), diversification of range enterprises (Spanish goats, stockers, cow/calf). He has worked closely with colleagues on Comprehensive Ranch Management for Profit -- a South Texas Integrated Resource Management Program and Project Range Care (the management of stocking rates on rangeland).
Grazing Management Instructor:
Dr. Alfonso "Poncho" Ortega-Santos
Research Scientist and Associate Professor
Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
700 University Blvd., MSC 218
Kingsville, Texas 78363
Phone: (361) 593-5001
Fax: (361) 593-3924
Email: Alfonso.Ortega@tamuk.edu
Poncho was born and raised in Gonzalez, Tamaulipas in Northern Mexico where he was in contact with ranching activities since a young age because of the family business. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science at the Universidad Autonoma de Tamaulipas in Victoria, Tamps. In Mexico, Master of Science in Animal Production at the Universidad “Antonio Narro” of Saltillo, Coah., Mexico, and a Ph.D. in Agronomy focusing grazing management at the University of Florida, in Gainesville, FL.
Poncho was Researcher and Regional Research Director of the Livestock Division, National Research Institute of Forestry, Crops and Livestock (INIFAP) in Northern Mexico from 1993 to 1997 and from 1997 to 2000 he was Researcher and National Leader of the Range and Forage Program at the same institution, which gave him the opportunity to work nationwide with a team of 110 researchers located in 82 experimental stations all over Mexico. Click here to read more.
Oil and Gas Instructor:
Judon Fambrough
Senior Lecturer, Real Estate Law
Texas A&M University, Real Estate Center
Judon is an attorney specializing in property rights, including oil and gas, wind power, hunting leases and landowner liability. He answers 1,000+ phone calls and e-mails each year and travels the state lecturing on the intricacies of Texas law. He has authored over 300 Center publications, many of them consistently among the most requested and has 250,000+ downloads yearly. Judon was awarded two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star while serving in Vietnam.
Equine Management Instructors:
Dr. Benjamin Espy, DVM
San Antonio, Texas
Dr. Benjamin Espy received a biology degree from Duke University in 1991. In 1996, he graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in veterinary medicine. During his career Dr. Espy has practiced medicine in Texas and in Lexington, KY at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute (formerly called Hagyard, Davidson, McGee Equine Associates). Hagyard’s is recognized worldwide as a leader in the field of equine fertility. Dr. Espy has been licensed to practice acupuncture for 12 years, is chairman of an AAEP committee, is on numerous AAEP task forces, is on the alternative therapy committee for the TVMA, is an animal treatment consultant for the PRCA, and is Board Certified in equine reproduction.
Dr. Cory Reng, DVM
Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture
Email: creng2@unl.edu
Dr. Cory S. Reng is a graduate of Washington State University and received her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine degree in 1996. A practicing veterinarian for 12 years, she joined the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in 2006. She is a graduate of the American School of Equine Dentistry and is a member of the International Association of Equine Dentistry.
Don Topliff, PhD
Dean, College of Agriculture, Science, and Engineering
Office: Agriculture and Natural Sciences Building, Room 106
Email: dtopliff@wtamu.edu
Phone: 806-651-3570
Home Page: www.wtamu.edu/~dtopliff/
Dr. Topliff has a Ph.D. in animal nutrition from Texas A&M University. He has served on the National Academy of Sciences on the Committeee for Animal Nutrition and as one of the authors of Nutrient Requirements of Horses, the gold standard in equine nutrition. He is an official judge for the American Quarter Horse Association and has judged horse shows around the world. Dr. Topliff's main teaching responsibility is in the graduate programs of the Department of Agricultural Sciences. As the architect of the University's only Ph.D. program, he teaches courses in Systems Agriculture and Integrated Animal Management. He additionally teaches various undergraduate courses including Senior Seminar and Futures and Options.
Dr. Dennis Sigler, PhD
Professor & Extension Horse Specialist
Room 249 Kleberg
979-845-7731
dsigler@tamu.edu
Dr. Dennis Sigler is a Professor and Extension Horse Specialist in the Animal Science Department. He is also a member of the graduate faculty and is responsible for Extension and research in the area of exercise physiology, conditioning and nutritional management of the equine athlete. Dr. Sigler received a B.S. degree from Abilene Christian University, a M.S. degree from Texas Tech and his Ph.D. degree from Texas A&M.
Dr. Sigler currently serves as a Horse Specialist for Texas AgriLife Extension. He coordinates educational programs and serves as a resource person for adults, youth and horse industry groups across the state of Texas.
Dr. Sigler also conducts research and trains graduate students in the area of exercise science. Specifically, he is interested in conditioning and management of the juvenile and mature athletic horse to maximize performance and enhance structural integrity. Other areas of interest include nutritional strategies to enhance performance and reduce musculo-skeletal injuries. Dr. Sigler has served as President of the Equine Science Society, has published numerous scientific and popular press articles and has served as an invited speaker at many national and state-wide meetings. He is a member of the American Society of Animal Science, American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists and the Equine Science Society.
Systems Thinking Instructor:
Mike Goodman, MS
Innovation Associates Organizational Learning
14 Church Street
Hopkinton, MA 01748
(774) 278-0408
mrginhop-at-aol.com
Mike Goodman received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University in 1970, and he holds masters degrees in Mechanical Engineering (1972) and Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1974). His thesis advisor at M.I.T. was Jay W. Forrester, founder of the System Dynamics field. Mike draws on over 30 years of expertise to create curriculum, lead courses and training in the arena of organizational learning and change, and help clients apply systems approaches to their critical business and organizational issues. He has published widely, authoring one of the first textbooks in the field, Study Notes in Systems Dynamics, and serving as the primary contributor to the Systems Thinking chapter in the acclaimed Fifth Discipline Fieldbook. Mike has also contributed numerous articles to The Dance of Change and to Schools that Learn. He also led the development of a web-based Systems Thinking course, Systems Thinking: A Language for Learning & Action. Mike is the Principal at Innovation Associates Organizational Learning. From 1985-2002 He served as an Associate Director and head of the Systems Thinking practice at Innovation Associates. From 1983-1985, Mike was an Assistant Professor at Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the Graduate School of Education.
Managerial Accounting for Ranchers Instructor:
R.L. "Dick" Wittman
Wittman Consulting
37737 McCormack Ridge Road Culdesac, ID 83524
PH: (208) 843-5595 C: (208) 305-1344 C: (208) 299-3521 FAX: (208) 843-5095
dwittman@lewiston.com
Wittman manages an 18,000-acre Idaho family farm partnership involving crops, cattle and timber and provides consulting services and seminars in family farm business and financial management in the US and abroad. A former FCS lender, he’s also served on numerous commodity and financial institution boards; is a director and past president of the Farm Financial Standards Council and past president of the PNW Direct Seed Association. He also serves on the Ag Working Group on Carbon Trading which is providing education and policy development leadership in climate change legislation that impacts agricultural marketing opportunities.