Professor
Department of Animal Sciences
University of Illinois
308 Animal Sciences Lab MC 630
1207 W. Gregory Dr.
Urbana, IL 61801-4734
rdshanks@uiuc.edu
(217) 244-3155

Background:

Dr. Shanks grew up in Lake county Illinois on a dairy farm near Libertyville. He attended University of Illinois, were he received a Bachelors of Science in Agricultural Science in 1974. In 1977 he received his Masters from Iowa State University, and in 1979 he also received his doctorate of philosophy from Iowa State University. Dr. Shanks then returned to the University of Illinois in 1979 to become part of the staff. In 1984 Dr. Shanks became an associate professor in Animal Science. He became a professor of genetics in 1992. Dr. Shanks was also the editor for the animal breeding and genetics section of the Journal of Dairy Science from 1997-2002.