College of Veterinary Medicine graduate Barbara Masters was recently selected to fill the position of U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service administrator.
Masters, a native of Hernando, Miss., holds a bachelor’s degree in animal and veterinary science. She graduated from Mississippi State in 1987.
The service’s administrative position affects almost all food products bought in stores, said Sharon Grace, a friend and classmate of Masters.
“What she is doing now affects everything you buy when you go to the grocery,” Grace said.
Masters said the position involves the supervision of food inspection in food processing plants and all slaughterhouses across the country.
“My position deals with the oversight of over 10,000 employees and we ensure that meat, poultry and egg products are accurately labeled,” Masters said. “We have meat and poultry inspectors assigned to every slaughterhouse in the country.”
Hart Bailey, associate professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine, said Masters deserves the position because of her strong work ethic, great communication skills and expertise in the field.
“She is very well prepared, very knowledgeable and very approachable. (Masters) says, ‘Two things are important-communication and a positive attitude.’ This tells you a lot about her and how she works,” Bailey said.
Masters said the main way the university prepared her for her career was in the problem solving methods taught that have prepared her to consider entire systems.
“The main thing I learned at MSU is to approach things with a systematic point of view,” Masters said. “In food safety, we look to see that the animal is healthy, the environment where the animal was raised is clean and the processing plant is clean.”
John Thomson, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, said that having a graduate hold such a high position in Washington is great for the university and for the department.
“We’re extremely proud to have a graduate reach the level that Barbara has with the Food Safety and Inspection Service,” Thomson said. “It is an honor for the College of Veterinary Medicine and the university.”
The position is only a temporary political position, lasting until President Bush can appoint somebody permanently, Masters said.
“When Bush appoints a permanent administrator, I will go back to field operations with oversight over about 7,000 employees across the country and a more grassroots-level operation,” Masters said.
When Masters was in school, she took 21 hours almost every semester and participated in the work-study program, while showing and riding horses in her spare time, Grace said.
“She is a wonderful ambassador for the university in Washington D.C., and she is a wonderful veterinarian,” Grace said.
Masters helped create a veterinary internship program with the service where no internship positions available, allowing students to experience a line of veterinary work different from what is normally expected, Bailey said.
“Barbara was instrumental in starting the summer employment program for veterinary students,” Bailey said. “Three MSU vet students have worked the 16 week internship.”
Masters, who adopted her six-year-old daughter Sydney from China, speaks highly of the education provided to her by the university.
“MSU really did prepare me for my career, regardless of my career choice. The university is more open to using different approaches to veterinary medicine and prepares students to go out into the work force and be successful no matter what line of work,” Masters said.