AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine has named three of its graduates as 2012 Wilford S. Bailey Distinguished Alumni in honor of their contributions to animal welfare, the profession, and their communities.

H.B. “Woody” Bartlett of Pike Road, Ala., William Mack Burriss of Anderson, S.C., and Dwight F. Wolfe of Auburn are the recipients.

A 1964 Auburn graduate, H.B. “Woody” Bartlett is involved with the equine industry on a national level. The Bartlett Ranches, which are located in Alabama, Texas, and Wyoming, account for over 81,000 acres holding five thousand head of cattle and over 500 head of purebred horses.

Bartlett has received numerous honors and prizes as a premier breeder and trainer of American Quarter Horses including the American Quarter Horse Association Legacy Award as a 50-year breeder. He is a member of the Alabama Livestock Hall of Fame and a past president of the Alabama Quarter Horse Association and the Southeastern Livestock Exposition. He serves on the equine sciences advisory committees at Colorado State University and at Texas A&M University.

He has been a major contributor to the Auburn University Southeastern Raptor Center and the Bartlett Lameness Arena at the J.T. Vaughan Large Animal Teaching Hospital at Auburn’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

Following graduation from Auburn in 1943, William Mack Burriss served as an Army veterinarian during World War Two and Korea, returning home to South Carolina to care for the animals of Anderson County.

Following retirement from private practice, he became medical director of the local animal shelter performing surgery for many years in the facility named in his honor.  Until 2009 Burriss served as veterinarian for the Anderson County Spay/Neuter Clinic championing the establishment of a low-cost or free spay and neuter clinic to reduce the number of animals that are euthanized due to overpopulation.

In 2006, he was chosen as South Carolina’s Distinguished Veterinarian of the Year. Along with his professional accomplishments, Burriss served 36 years on the Anderson County School District Five Board of Trustees, many of those years as chairman. In 2010 the United Way of Anderson County named him their Communitarian.

Dwight F. Wolfe is a food animal professor at Auburn’s College of Veterinary Medicine. In 2011 he received the David E. Bartlett Award for his contributions to theriogenology. In 2010 he received the College of Veterinary Medicine Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence and in 2009 the Alabama Veterinary Medical Association presented him their Distinguished Service Award, the association’s highest honor. He was inducted into the Alabama Livestock Hall of Fame in 2006 and named Alabama Veterinarian of the Year in 2004. The D.F. Wolfe Food Animal Barn on the veterinary campus is dedicated in his name.

Wolfe has contributed to the field of theriogenology, as well as to the livestock industry, through funded research, publications, abstracts, textbooks, chapters in books, presentations, and consultations.

He obtained his doctorate in veterinary medicine from Auburn in 1977 and his M.S. in large animal surgery and medicine in 1982. Wolfe became a diplomate of the American College of Theriogenologists in 1983. He is one of only four diplomates who have served as president of both the American College of Theriogenologists and the Society of Theriogenology.

The distinguished alumni awards were presented May 8 during the college’s graduation ceremony held at the Auburn Arena.  The awards are named in memory of 1942 veterinary medicine graduate Wilford S. Bailey who held a 50-year continuous faculty appointment at Auburn University, serving in positions ranging from instructor to university president.

Contact: Tara Lanier, 334-844-3698, tara.lanier@auburn.edu