FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Ted Dorn and Jenny Jennings have received outstanding alumnus honors from the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas.

Dorn is the recipient of the Outstanding Alumni Award and Jennings is the recipient of the Bumpers College Alumni Society Young Alumni Award.

Dorn is co-president of three Simmons Foods Inc. affiliates – Simmons Feed Ingredients, PRO*CAL and Sensora LLC. He has been with Simmons for 17 years.

He earned a bachelor’s of science degree in animal science from Arkansas in 1982.

Dorn, who has also worked at Ralston Purina, Pilgrim’s Pride and Tyson Foods, serves on the Benton County Farm Bureau Board of Directors and previously served 11 years on the Gentry School Board.

He was born and raised on his family’s farm in Dover and graduated from Dover High School in 1978. He and his wife Kathleen have a son, Brent, who is a student in the Bumpers College.

Dorn delivered the commencement address to Bumpers College graduates on May 11 in Barnhill Arena. Among his comments, he encouraged the 2013 class to continuously improve and learn because their “education isn’t complete, it’s just beginning.”

Dorn told the graduates that over their careers, they will be asked to feed 50 percent more people with less land. “You have to produce more food safer, faster, with less water and with less environmental impact,” said Dorn. “In the next 40 years, we must produce as much food as we have in the past 8,000 years. It is much better to be in an industry that is growing rather than shrinking. The land-grant university system has allowed the past several generations to increase food production to the point that less than 2 percent of our population farms.”

Dorn mentioned the state is No. 1 in the nation in rice production, No. 2 in broilers, and No. 3 in turkeys, catfish and cotton. He said agriculture is responsible for one in six jobs in the state.

He also encouraged the graduates to work hard and reminded them how fortunate Americans are. “In spite of all you hear to the contrary, we still live in the greatest place on earth and people all over the world are willing to die to come here,” said Dorn. “You have heard your generation will never have as much as your parents. Don’t believe it. The same thing was said in 1982 when I sat here. We were in the worst recession since World War II. Jobs were hard to come by. Interest rates were 16 percent. It didn’t seem like owning a home would be possible. They were wrong. The critical thing for each of you is to find something you like to do, working with people you like and living in an area where you want to live. Hopefully your chosen line of work will allow you and your family to live the ‘American Dream.’ This can be in academia, government, private business or owning your own business. Hard work still pays off. The only thing I can guarantee you is that things will change. We didn’t have cell phones and fax machines 31 years ago. It’s hard to imagine what you will see and experience over the next 40 years.”

Alltech Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer Karl Dawson with Jenny Jennings, manager of Alltech’s South Dakota Ruminant Physiology Lab.

Jennings manages the South Dakota Ruminant Physiology Lab for Alltech Inc., which is a global leader in animal health and nutrition.

Jennings earned a bachelor’s of science degree in animal science in 2004 from Missouri State and her master’s degree in animal science with an emphasis in animal physiology from the University of Arkansas in 2006. She earned her doctorate in ruminant nutrition at South Dakota State in 2009. Her research included investigating physiological and genetic regulation of composition of gain in beef cattle.

Jennings finished second in the doctoral graduate student oral competition at the American Society of Animal Science Midwest section. She was named a 2010 Animal Science Young Scholar and invited to speak at the ASAS Midwest Section meetings.

Jennings began working at Alltech in 2009 as a postdoctoral fellow specializing in beef cattle research. In 2011, Jennings began to oversee product research in dairy and beef cattle for the United States.

She has been an invited speaker multiple times at Alltech’s annual International Animal Health and Nutrition Symposium, and the Global 500 Conference. Jennings is an active member of the National Cattleman’s Beef Association, Masters of Beef Advocacy and the American Society of Animal Science.

Jennings, who lives in Brookings, S.D., is married to Tracy and they are the parents of sons Tyler and Connor.