George Seidel, a University Distinguished Professor, began his journey at Colorado State University in 1971. He will be celebrating his well-accomplished 45-year milestone at the Celebrate! CSU Milestones event this May.

Seidel grew up on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania and attended Pennsylvania State University where he majored in dairy science. He then continued his education at Cornell University, receiving his master’s in physiology and biochemistry and his Ph.D. in physical biology, with a postdoctoral research fellowship at Harvard University.

He was offered a position as an assistant professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at CSU while at Harvard. Seidel and his wife were thrilled to move to Fort Collins. He attributes much of his success to his wife.

Make the complicated useful

Seidel went on to focus his research on cattle and horse fertility. He explains how studying fertility in animals is extremely important for understanding human fertility. His goal is to understand what damages the germ-line in the reproductive system and continue to learn how to keep sperm and embryos healthy.

“We do some basic research but we specialize in making it practical, he said. “It’s about getting it to make it useful.”

Seidel is always ecstatic when an experiment goes well.

He has taught students from varying levels undergraduate to postdoctoral students, and loves being able to watch his students take the education that they obtain from their experiments and use it to help with human and animal reproduction. “They get very well trained here and go on to do very well with human fertility,” he said.

Never worked a day in his life

“Some may call me a workaholic,” Seidel said, but added that working is more of a hobby for him. Seidel also owns a cattle ranch just outside of Fort Collins, and describes both of his jobs as incredibly satisfying: “Teaching students and learning new information to understand how nature works is equally fulfilling.”

Seidel is passionate about working on a college campus, because he finds the students and their continuous desire to learn very stimulating. He describes how his field and the University have changed over time but the students continue to be great people. Seidel often keeps in touch with his students to give advice or write letters of recommendation.

Beyond his work, Seidel travels quite often for speaking engagements, and gives a few guest lectures each year on campus. He also enjoys gardening and spending time on his ranch.

After his 45 years at CSU, Seidel is still excited to come to work every day. “I’ve been very lucky to be in the right place at the right time, and to have great mentors, colleagues, and students,” he said.

He still has a mission to do the things he hasn’t yet finished. “It’s a pretty powerful force.”