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Message from the Dean | September 2019
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It was a pleasure to welcome the Class of 2023 on August 21 for their three-day orientation. It is always an exciting time at the School of Veterinary Medicine when our incoming first-year students arrive on campus. This past week we held our selectives courses, where students have the opportunity to spend a very focused week learning more about a part of the veterinary medical profession that they might not be exposed to in our day-to-day curriculum.
Classes will officially launch this coming week and I look forward to welcoming all of our students back to campus. We are excited to share that we have had recent renovations and upgrades in the teaching laboratory spaces of MD-1 and MD-2 over the summer. To better support students' learning in these two lab spaces, we updated lighting, ceiling tiles, AV functionality and benches. My thanks to the facilities and IT staff, instructional specialists and faculty members who provided leadership and feedback for these needed improvements.
In the late fall/winter of 2014, 2016 and 2018, the SVM conducted an employee climate survey, asking 15 questions related to various areas of the work environment. Based on an analysis of the data over the past four years, there has been a holistic improvement in many of the climate areas. These include employees feeling that the SVM is a great place to work, being happy to come to work and being able to maintain a work/life balance. Employees also felt a greater understanding of how their job fits into the school. While there were positive changes in all employment categories, tenure-track faculty, clinical instructors and academic staff research staff saw the greatest overall improvement in climate, with positive changes in 14 of the 15 survey areas.
On the building project front, JP Cullen has been selected as the contractor for the new parking ramp in Lot 62, with work scheduled to begin Oct. 1 and be completed in December 2020. We also continue to work with Flad Architects and Affiliated Engineers, Inc. to design the school's new building and the remodeling that will occur in our current facility.
Last but certainly not least, Wisconsin had an exciting announcement that came out of the American Veterinary Medical Association Convention in Washington, D.C. this past month. Douglas Kratt, a 1998 UW SVM alumnus, was selected as president-elect of AVMA. He
rounds out a trifecta of leaders of veterinary medicine organizations
with connections to the Badger state and the SVM,
joining our veterinary medical student Marie Bucko, who was selected as president-elect of the Student American Veterinary Medical Association this past year, and me, chosen as president-elect of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges this year as well.
I hope everyone has a good beginning of your school year. It's always fun when the students return in the fall.
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UW Veterinary Care Updates from the Director
No updates to share this month other than this message of kindness and gratitude
from a recent client of our Cardiology service:
"
Wonderful -- we were seen right away, we were never kept waiting too long, the doctors spent as much time with us as we needed, always called when promised and did everything they could to save my kitty's life. I only trust this hospital for my cat now. Everyone was just amazing."
-
Jessica, Loves Park, Illinois
Ruthanne Chun DVM'91
Director,
UW Veterinary Care
Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs
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School News
On August 20, staff from eight of Wisconsin's 10 congressional offices visited the School of Veterinary Medicine as part of an annual UW-Madison research tour for congressional staff.
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Faculty and Staff News
Congratulations are in order for several current and former members of the SVM faculty and staff.
Karen Young, clinical professor of clinical pathology, has been named the 2019 recipient of the American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology
Lifetime Achievement Award, to be presented at the organization's annual meeting in November in San Antonio, Texas.
Chad Vezina, professor in
the Department of Comparative Biosciences
, has been honored with a Vilas Faculty Mid-Career Investigator Award from UW-Madison, recognizing research and teaching excellence. And
JoAnn Disch
, former program assistant in the Office of Academic Affairs, has been granted emeritus status following her retirement this spring.
Welcome to
Johanna Elfenbein, who joins the school today as an assistant professor of bacteriology in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences.
From August 12-13, 20 SVM faculty and staff participated in a two-day workshop focused on Emotional CPR, a public health education program designed to teach people to assist others through an emotional crisis.
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Student News
Twenty-two students from the UW School of Veterinary Medicine presented their research at the 2019 National Veterinary Scholars Symposium in July (view participants' names, research projects and mentors). In addition, two dual-degree trainees from the SVM attended a one-day pre-conference, the National Colloquium for Combined DVM/PhD Biomedical Scientists. Also at the symposium, alumna Jessica Quimby DVM'03 received the American Veterinary Medical Foundation/Winn Feline Foundation Research Award.
Welcome to three Ross University students who begin clinical rotations in the hospital on Sept. 16: Katie Chan, Lindsey Davison and Clare Hubbard.
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Research News
Researchers within the Department of Comparative Biosciences published two recent studies of estrogen receptor α positive (ER+) mammary tumors, the leading cause of breast cancer deaths in U.S. women, in the journals Oncogene and Cell Reports.
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Upcoming Events
Dean's Get Together
Marshall Park
SVM Tailgate and Continuing Education Event
Sept. 28
Veterinary Medicine Building
Clinician Scientist Training Workshop
Oct. 19-20
Fluno Center
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