Michael Kidd, director of the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science and head of the Department of Poultry Science at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, has been named the Poultry Industry Leader of the Year by The Poultry Federation, based in Little Rock. Kidd joined UA’s Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food & Life Sciences in 2010. He is responsible for the Center ‘s programs in poultry science and related disciplines.
Kidd received his bachelor’s degree in poultry science from the University of Arkansas in 1990, earning his master’s degree there in 1991. He later attended North Carolina State University for his doctorate in 1994. While at North Carolina State, Kidd majored in nutrition and minored in immunology.
He has served as president of the Poultry Science Association and was department head at the Department of Poultry Science at Mississippi State University. Kidd became research manager at Nutri-Quest Inc. of Chesterfield, Missouri, in 1994. He was promoted to research director at Nutri-Quest in 1998. He joined Mississippi State in 1999 as faculty and headed the university’s poultry department from 2007 to 2010 before moving to the UA. The Mississippi Agricultural & Forestry Experiment Station recognized Kidd in 2005 for having the most impactful publication.
