Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

October 25, 2002

Sutherland gift honors Jay Lush

Tom and Jean Sutherland, Ft. Collins, Colo., have contributed $500,000 toward an endowed professorship in animal breeding and genetics. Tom Sutherland, an ISU alumnus, was a dean at American University in Beirut in 1985 when he was abducted by the Islamic Jihad and held hostage for more than six years.

The Sutherlands have taken the lead in establishing the Jay Lush Endowed Professorship in Animal Breeding and Genetics. Lush was Sutherland's major professor during graduate school.

Lush was a professor of animal science from 1930 to 1966 and named distinguished professor of agriculture in 1958. He is considered the father of modern animal breeding and was one of the first to teach the importance of selective breeding.

Sutherland said the idea was radical at the time because animal selections were based on appearances in the show-ring.

Lush "wanted measurable results, such as milk production, the rate of growth or thickness of back fat," Sutherland said.

The Sutherland gift, which will strengthen the new Center for Integrated Animal Genomics, is part of Iowa State's Investing in People initiative. The initiative is a two-year, $50 million effort between the university and the ISU Foundation to raise private funds for undergraduate scholarships, graduate fellowships and faculty support.