Spring! Will you arrive this year? | Message from the Dean

Message from the Dean | March 2019

Spring! Will you arrive this year?

Despite the cold, snow, ice, rain and wind this past month, I am certain that spring will eventually arrive in the next month or two. Aligned with that warming trend, we all remain hopeful and optimistic about the school's building expansion project. We are currently in the process of selecting the architects and engineers for this project, with the goal of identifying firms in the next two months.

We are also hopeful that we will be included in Governor Evers' capital budget released toward the end of this month. We are well on our way to achieving the $38 million private giving goal in support of our expansion, with $24 million raised to date.

I am delighted to announce that we successfully completed the $5 million Morrie Waud Match this past month, with a total impact of nearly $9 million raised for the expansion. We are all amazingly grateful for Morrie's gift and are equally sad that he was not here to see his match realized. We are planning a celebration of Morrie's life here at the school on May 18 to honor all that he did for our students, our hospital and the entire School of Veterinary Medicine. Please plan on attending if you are able. More information will follow soon about the event.


	Mean annual change in debt of resident DVM graduates since 2006. View larger. (Source: AVMA)

Providing scholarship support for our DVM students to reduce their debt load was a top priority for Morrie, as it is for the SVM, and in this vein I have promising news to report. The AVMA recently analyzed the mean nominal debt of all U.S. veterinary graduates and I'm honored to note that we at the UW have the lowest annual increase in educational debt for in-state graduates since 2006 (0.13 percent).

I am also proud to recognize a number of our faculty and staff who have recently received campus-wide awards. Karen Young earned the Slesinger Award for Excellence in Mentoring, given each year to a member of the UW-Madison academic community who has demonstrated exceptional mentoring to women faculty. Linda Schuler will receive the university's Hilldale Award, recognizing her distinguished contributions to teaching, research and service, as well as her achievements throughout her career at UW. Kim Lord Plummer will receive the Chancellor's Hilldale Award for Excellence in Teaching, a prestigious honor for members of the academic staff. And Mostafa Zamanian has been recognized among the campus nominees for the Shaw Scientist Program and was recently awarded a Postdoc Mentoring Award for his outstanding work in mentoring the next generation of scientists and researchers on campus. Please join me in congratulating Karen, Linda, Kim and Mostafa for their contributions.

Today we host more than 85 applicants who have been offered admission to the UW School of Veterinary Medicine Class of 2023, as well as their guests, for a chance to tour the school and engage with our faculty, staff and students. Please share a warm welcome with these invited applicants and, if you have an opportunity this afternoon, stop by and say hello at a reception from 2:30-4:30 in room 2255.

I hope everyone has a good remainder of this winter and that by my next Dean's Message, spring will truly have arrived !

UW Veterinary Care Updates from the Director

After passing both the Core Knowledge Examination and Species-specific Examination (Equine), Fernando J. Marqués became a Diplomate in the American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation (ACVSMR). This now means that our Morrie Waud Large Animal Hospital hosts the only two ACVSMR equine Diplomates (the other being Sabrina Brounts) in the state of Wisconsin.

Welcome to new employees Mariah Smith, a technician who will be helping the Orthopedic and Soft Tissue Surgery and Dentistry and Oral Surgery services, and Amanda Anderson, CVT, in the Large Animal Hospital.

Whether arriving from near or far, our clients remain grateful for our compassion and expert care. Here's just one recent comment :

" The experience was phenomenal! I cannot express my level of gratitude to Dr. Taylor. I loved how he visually explained the diagnosis. He also thoroughly presented our options. Additionally, though I did not meet Dr. Keepman, he has been equally helpful and amazingly available via phone. We live in Iowa and I couldn't be more grateful for the voice on the other end of the phone offering an extraordinary level of understanding and comfort! THANK YOU!!! "

- Chip, Eldridge, Iowa

Ruthanne Chun DVM'91
Director, UW Veterinary Care
Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs

School News

It's time to gather your scientific imagery for the university's Cool Science Image Contest. Image and video submissions from faculty, staff and students are now being sought for the 2019 contest, with a March 15 deadline.

The ninth annual SVM Phi Zeta Research Day will be held April 10, featuring a keynote presentation by Professor Amara Estrada of the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. Abstracts for poster presentations must be submitted by March 11 to be considered for a highlighted oral platform presentation or, otherwise, by March 18. $500 prizes will be awarded for best abstracts by a DVM student, house officer and graduate student.

Faculty and Staff News

Dean Mark Markel has been elected president-elect of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges.

Student News

Students are encouraged to complete the 2019 AAU Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Assault Climate Survey, which will gauge UW-Madison's campus climate regarding sexual assault and misconduct. All undergraduate, graduate and professional school students received the survey via email on February 11. The deadline to complete the survey is March 19. Students' involvement will help shape campus policies and programs. (Participation is confidential and voluntary, and any experience disclosed will not be considered a report to the university.)


	From left to right, Kameron Montana DVMx'20, Makenzi Travis-Balac DVMx'20, Kyle Granger DVMx'20, Priscilla Marroquin DVMx'21 and Jessica Carag DVMx'20 accept the VOICE National Chapter of the Year award.

Congratulations to the UW SVM chapter of Veterinarians as One Inclusive Community for Empowerment (VOICE), recently honored with VOICE's National Chapter of the Year award. This award honors a VOICE chapter that has organized or sponsored many successful events during the academic year, exceeded programming requirements, and continuously supported the development of a positive and welcoming environment, as well as an understanding of diversity and inclusivity, within their local and academic communities.

Elizabeth Endres DVMx'20 earned a $1,500 scholarship from the National Dairy Herd Information Association and Austin Wenck DVMx'21 received a $1,000 scholarship from the Baraboo-based Equity Cooperative Livestock Sales Association.

Lindsey Block, a graduate student in the lab of Ted Golos, was accepted to participate in the Frontiers in Reproduction Course -- a six-week intensive training in advanced reproductive biology techniques -- at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and received a $6,000 scholarship to support her participation.

Research News

Sathish Kumar, associate professor of comparative biosciences, and Jay Mishra, a postdoctoral research associate in Kumar's lab, are among the researchers who published a scientific review in the journal Reproduction revealing an emerging role for androgens in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia, a medical condition that affects pregnant women .