Clifton Marshall ’66 B.S. Dairy Science

A 1966 graduate in Dairy Science, Marshall is vice president of Select Sires Inc., of Plain City, Ohio, the largest bovine artificial insemination company in the world.

After receiving his master's degree from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1968, Marshall started as a laboratory technician and field technician supervisor for Virginia Animal Breeders, one of several cooperatives that federated to create Select Sires. He went on to manage a semen-processing laboratory in Michigan before being promoted to become Select Sires' reproduction specialist in Ohio in 1972 and vice president of production and research in 1989.

Marshall received the 2010 National Association of Animal Breeders Pioneer Award for his leadership in developing procedures to critically evaluate semen quality, to process and use semen, to maximize post-thaw quality with straw packaging, and to utilize semen sex sorting.

As artificial insemination evolved from a veterinary applied skill to a service performed by professional inseminators or herd owners and their employees, Marshall developed educational programs and audio-visual materials to train these individuals. Today, more than 70 percent of cattle inseminations in the United States are completed by herd owners or employees.

Marshall has authored or co-authored more than 60 peer-reviewed articles on industry applied subjects such as semen harvest, quality evaluation, data management, estrus synchronization and insemination technique.