Dr. Temple Grandin

The Dole Institute of Politics will honor advocate for autistic persons and Professor of Animal Science Temple Grandin with the 2019 Dole Leadership Prize.
“Temple Grandin is a trailblazer,” Dole Institute Director Bill Lacy said. “She not only overcame widespread ignorance about autism and helped lessen the stigma around it, she used the challenges she faced to bring an entirely new perspective to how domestic animals are cared for and treated.”

Grandin will receive the 2019 Dole Leadership Prize at the Dole institute of Politics on Wednesday, December 11 at 7:00 pm following a question and answer session.

Diagnosed with autism at the age of two, Grandin did not speak until she was four. Despite her childhood doctor’s belief that she was brain-damaged, a common misunderstanding in the 1940s, she went on to earn a degree in psychology from Franklin Pierce College in 1970, a master’s degree in animal science from Arizona State University, and her doctorate in animal science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1989. Today she teaches courses on livestock behavior at Colorado State University and consults with the livestock industry on facility design, livestock handling, and animal welfare. She is also a tireless advocate for autistic persons. Grandin fights for “neurodiversity,” opposing the idea of a “cure” for autism.