Faculty Spotlight: Rusty Gosz

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Rusty Gosz serves Oklahoma State University as its Youth Livestock Specialist. His primary responsibilities are to develop appropriate training programs and coordinate activities for state youth livestock programs. Rusty Gosz was born and raised in New Mexico. He pursued his passion for the livestock industry by obtaining his associates degree from South Plains College, his B.S. and M.S. in Animal Science from Oklahoma State University. Rusty worked under the guidance of Dr. David Buchanan to earn his M.S. degree.

Some of his specific programs include the OSU Livestock Judging Camps that bring 100 prospective students each year to participate in one of two 3-day events. In 2015, camp participants hailed from 21 states. Rusty is also responsible for the Big 3 Field Days that draw approximately 1,500 youth to OSU to participate in livestock judging and other educational events. He also coordinates livestock judging contests for over 3,000 students a year at Oklahoma State University, the Tulsa State Fair, and the State Fair of Oklahoma. In coordinating the judging contests, Rusty has revolutionized scoring systems through the integration of Scantron technologies. Mr. Gosz is having a national impact by serving on the Youth Pork Quality Assurance (PQA) Committee and the National 4-H Livestock Judging committee.

Rusty received the Outstanding State Specialist award from the Oklahoma Association of Agricultural Extension Agents, the Distinguished Service Award from the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, the Honorary State FFA Degree, and the Honorary American FFA Degree.

Mr. Gosz is an inspiring leader in the Department of Animal Science who has a tremendous impact on the lives of college students and youth involved in livestock projects. He serves as Campus Advisor for Cowboys for Christ. When not working with youth in his job, Rusty devotes his time to his family and church. He and his wife, Heather, have eight children.