Maxwell earns 2026 El Toro Award for Excellence in Food Animal Science

Fifty years ago, Dr. Herris Maxwell `78 received a piece of mail from Auburn University that changed the course of his life. It was a letter informing him that he had been accepted into the College of Veterinary Medicine.

“I’ll never forget the joy and relief that came with that letter,” said Maxwell, who had studied animal sciences as an undergraduate student at Mississippi State University.

A few months later, Maxwell moved into the Alpha Psi house – “a 5-star accommodation,” as he remembers it – and began his journey toward earning a DVM. The next four years afforded opportunities to learn from legendary faculty members, including some whose names are now attached to CVM facilities and awards.

“The Auburn program had an amazing faculty, including Dr. [Wilford] Bailey and Dr. [J.T.] Vaughan,” he said. “There were also so many other marvelous mentors.”

Maxwell, who earned the CVM’s 2026 El Toro Award during its Distinguished Alumni Awards Ceremony & Dinner on April 24, certainly added to that legacy of impactful Auburn mentors. The El Toro Award for Excellence in Food Animal Medicine was established in 1994 and has been awarded annually through the generosity of Dr. James G. Floyd Jr., in memory of his father, J.G. Floyd. The award honors CVM alumni who have demonstrated exceptional dedication to food animal practice, veterinary student mentorship and industry leadership.

Maxwell certainly qualified for the award on multiple accounts. After graduating from Auburn, he spent 26 years as a clinical veterinarian at Columbia Animal Hospital in Columbia, Miss. An emeritus diplomate of the American College of Theriogenologists, Maxwell served as a president and past president of the Society for Theriogenology.

During his career in Mississippi, he established herd health programs for dairies in multiple counties. As Maxwell puts it, he was fortunate to live “every adventure of all creatures great and small.”

“I enjoyed practice every day for 26 years,” he said. “I thought I’d finish my life out in the real world.”

But, true to form, Auburn University offered him a different pathway. He returned to the CVM in 2005 as its first clinical track faculty member and eventually became the first promoted to professor.

“I don’t think it’s any exaggeration to say that the four years I spent at Auburn as a student were among the best four years of my life,” Maxwell said. “It was truly a great experience.”

The 17 years he spent on the CVM faculty may be among Maxwell’s most impactful years, however. During his tenure, he instructed senior veterinary students during their clinical year in food animal practice, focusing on theriogenology, general ruminant practice and dairy production. He supervised theriogenology residents, managed cases in the Food Animal Hospital and delivered roughly 30 lectures per year in theriogenology, production and preventative medicine.

“All through our time at Auburn [as DVM students], we were constantly reminded that a primary goal of the College of Veterinary Medicine was to train and graduate practice-ready veterinarians,” Maxwell said. “That was a core belief of this institution, and it still is.”