Murinda Named Department Chair

You take the “interim” tag off his title.

Professor Shelton Murinda is now the permanent chair of the Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences. The move became official in April.

Murinda became interim chair after Professor Broc Sandelin, the previous chair, departed last year to become dean of the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at Delaware Valley University in Doylestown, Penn. 

Murinda has taught at Cal Poly Pomona since 2005, specializing in teaching biotechnology applications in animal science and meat science and industry classes.

He has served as director of the university’s Center for Antimicrobial Research & Food Safety since 2007. In 2015, he was appointed as the campus coordinator for the California State University Agricultural Research Institute.

A native of Zimbabwe, Murinda earned his bachelor’s degree in agriculture and animal science with honors from the University of Zimbabwe; his master’s degree in dairy and food chemistry from the National University of Ireland University College Cork; and his doctorate in food science with an emphasis in microbiology from Penn State.