CVM’s Bartol Named 2023-24 Distinguished Graduate Faculty Lecturer

Dr. Frank “Skip” Bartol, a member of the Auburn College of Veterinary Medicine faculty for 40 years and currently Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies and Professor in the Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology, has been named the 2023-24 Distinguished Graduate Faculty Lecturer at Auburn University.

The Distinguished Graduate Faculty Lecturer designation recognizes a faculty member who has made significant contributions to graduate education at Auburn. The lecture is jointly sponsored by the Graduate School and the Auburn Alumni Association and the recipient is nominated by his or her department and selected by a committee of graduate faculty. Awarded every academic year since 1975-76, the lectureship fosters a better understanding of the significant scholarly contributions made by Auburn  faculty.

A Virginia native, Bartol earned his undergraduate degree from Virginia Tech University and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Florida through the Interdisciplinary Reproductive Biology Program. He later received advanced training in molecular biology from the Center for Animal Biotechnology at Texas A&M University before joining the Auburn College of Veterinary Medicine faculty in 1983, where he has served as Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies since 2009.

Bartol’s research focuses on identifying factors affecting and mechanisms regulating the development and function of the female reproductive tract in domestic ungulate species. His work in reproductive and developmental biology, which has implications for both animal and human health, led to the proposal of the ‘lactocrine hypothesis’ for maternal programming of postnatal development. The term ‘lactocrine programming’ is now widely accepted by scientists working in developmental and perinatal biology and medicine.

Twice named the Donald Henry Barron Lecturer by what is now the Perinatal Biology Research Program at the University of Florida, Bartol’s work with graduate programs includes serving as a founding member of the Alabama Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (AL-EPSCoR) Graduate Research Scholars Program (GRSP). He has served as the Auburn GRSP Campus Coordinator since the inception of the program in 2006. With a goal of “advancing economic development in Alabama through research in science and engineering”, the AL-EPSCoR GRSP program has awarded over $17 million in research grants to graduate students statewide, helping to generate more than 300 graduate degrees across multiple STEM disciplines, primarily at the doctoral level.

Bartol has won a number of other honors and awards over his distinguished Auburn career. He was named an Alumni Professor in 2009 and in 2017 was recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Animal Science, the American Society for Reproductive Immunology, the Society for the Study of Reproduction and the Society for Theriogenology.

“After more than 40 years there have been many memorable teaching experiences,” Bartol noted of being selected as the 2023-24 Distinguished Graduate Faculty Lecturer for his impact on Auburn students. “Among the most memorable, I count those moments when, through both wrote and reason, students came to recognize that pursuit of knowledge through science can define a career and then committed to pursuit of such paths.”