News Archives: Dr. Bart Lardner Discovered a Love for Learning
Thursday, June 1st, 2017
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It is hard to believe Dr. H.A. (Bart) Lardner once struggled with his high school education before finding his love of learning at GPRC’s Fairview Campus.
Lardner is a research scientist and adjunct professor at the University of Saskatchewan. Lardner shares his research online, through social media, hard copy publication, and by talking directly to members of the beef and forage industry, stakeholders, and other researchers. He has been invited to give over 250 talks in Canada and other countries including, United States, Australia, Finland, China, and Mongolia.
With all his success is it incredible to discover that Lardner left high school after Grade 11 to work at feedlots and cattle ranches for eight years. It was the work he grew up doing, first on a dairy farm near Enderby, B.C. and then on a mixed beef and grain farm in Dawson Creek, B.C.
When Lardner decided to go back to school he did not set out to be a professor, he simply set out to get a diploma and get back to work. After finishing grade twelve at Northern Lights College in Dawson Creek, he looked to Northern Alberta for a diploma in Animal Health Technology.
For years he had carried around the fact that he hadn’t graduated high school, but everything changed over his two years at GPRC Fairview. Lardner gained confidence in himself and his ability to learn.
Going into the program Lardner thought he only needed to learn about animal health, but instead he found himself enjoying learning about nutrition, production, and management. At the GPRC Fairview campus Lardner realized the important role diet plays in the health of animals.
GPRC provided Lardner with small, hands on labs and field trips allowing him to work directly with animals and develop a sense of close camaraderie with the other students. The small class sizes didn’t only mean more help and attention academically, it meant all of the students got to know one another and become friends, a few of them for life.
With instructors such as Dr. Henry Gauvreau, and in particular Fiona Cameron and Peggy Johnson, who were committed to teaching, Lardner learned about much more than animal health. It was thanks to a meeting with Dr. Gauvreau that Lardner’s perspective of academia opened up.
Lardner’s two years at Fairview were the favourite out of the fourteen he put in to his academic career. “Everything happens for a reason,” Lardner says, “I needed to go to Fairview so I could gain confidence and look forward. It turned into an unbelievable job and I will never regret it.”
He applied to the University of Saskatchewan in 1984, and finished his BSA in 1991, taking a break within that time to work in the feedlot and animal health sector in Alberta. In 1993, he finished his Master's program, and taught at Lethbridge College for a year. In 1998, he received his Ph.D.
Lardner says that post-secondary school is a different environment, one that can be difficult, but it’s easier if you “stay current and keep up with the material. Focus not just on the subject matter, but also how to learn and understand the concepts.”
He encourages new students in the AHT program to “be patient, volunteer and gain hands on experience in the industry, be open and receptive to instructors, and don’t be afraid to give it your all.”
