Every morning, just like clockwork, Grace Nightser sends out an email.
But this is not just any e-mail. It’s a daily multiple-choice question that is delivered into the mailboxes of almost 2,000 subscribers.
The junior animal science major is an undergraduate research assistant with SMEC, the Swine Medicine Education Center. SMEC is the nation’s only educational center which provides hands-on experiences and education in swine health and production.
Nightser oversees the daily swine e-mail to a list serve that includes students, veterinarians and producers.
“The questions cover all aspects of swine from veterinary to production questions,” Nightser said.
The questions are written by SMEC faculty and staff members, as well as contributions from other veterinarians, as part of the LEARN (Lifelong Education and Reference Network) program. Nightser adds a photo to the trivia question before it is distributed.
“I’ve recently written a couple of questions as well, one of which will be sent out soon on farrowing,” Nightser said.
When the subscriber answers the question, they will receive immediate feedback with the correct answer option and an explanation. Nightser says that no record is kept by SMEC of whether subscribers select the correct or incorrect answer.
“I asked my family to subscribe to the questions,” said Nightser, whose family operates a small swine operation in southwest Iowa. “My family claims they get most of the questions right, but I have no way of knowing that for sure.”
Funding for Nightser’s position was made possible by the Dr. Douglas and Ann Gustafson Professorship for Teaching Excellence. Dr. Locke Karriker, SMEC director, is the holder of that named faculty position.
“If each recipient of our daily trivia question spends just 30 seconds on the question and explanation each day, that’s an additional 1.0 FTE of teaching each year about swine production,” Karriker said.
Individuals can subscribe to SMEC LEARN.
April 2025