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Office Gives Outreach Higher Profile
College Acknowledges Sponsors
The College acknowledges its sponsors for support of these recent alumni and student events: White Coat Ceremony and commencement reception.
Platinum Sponsors:
College of Veterinary Medicine Achievement Fund
Elanco Animal Health
Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc.
Hill’s Student Feeding Committee
Nestlé Purina PetCare Company
Pfizer Animal Health
VCA/Antech, Inc. and VCA Animal Hospitals, Inc.
Gold Sponsor:
Merial
Silver Sponsor:
University of Illinois Veterinary Medical Alumni
Association
Bronze Sponsors:
Eastern Illinois Veterinary Medical Association
The Iams Company
Mississippi Valley Veterinary Medical AssociationPersonal Traits Get Emphasis in Admissions
Who are you and where are you going in the profession?The answers to those questions will be key to determining the makeup of the Class of 2008 and classes beyond.
The Admissions Advisory Committee has implemented procedural changes to address a longstanding dilemma in evaluating applicants’ strengths: how to balance the importance of the academic skills needed to handle the demanding veterinary curriculum with the personal traits that mark success in the profession.
“Obviously academic scores are important,” says Dr. Gerald Pijanowski, associate dean for academic and student affairs, “but we are trying to place more emphasis on who the person is.”
All applications will be subject to an initial evaluation of cumulative and science grade-point average, the rigor of the undergraduate academic experience, and Graduate Record Examination score. A composite score derived from these factors will identify applications demonstrating sufficiently strong academic ability to proceed to review by faculty on the admissions committee.
At the next review stage, only subjective measures—personal statements, letters of recommendation, and work and life experience—will be evaluated, and three faculty members will review each application.
“We’ve expanded the categories of relevant experience to include community service, leadership activities, entrepreneurship, and work experience in business, agribusiness, or research,” Dr. Pijanowski says. “We want to be sure those with career goals other than practice are not at a disadvantage in the selection process.”
An order of merit list created after the second review stage will determine which applicants are invited for the personal interview, which will be held on March 1, 2004. Offers of admission will be made on the basis of the combined results of the review of subjective measures and the interview scores.
“We expect that these changes will mean students’ backgrounds will become much more diverse, but the students will still be academically strong. We may be able to get some people who have not spent as much time in private practice, but have been very active in other ways,” notes Dr. Pijanowski.
He points to the so-called mega-study, commissioned in the 1990s by leading professional organizations to assess the state of veterinary medicine, as an impetus for the changes. The findings focused on the “skills, knowledge, aptitudes, and attitudes” of successful veterinarians.
A more recent study began defining in a concrete way traits desirable for the profession. These include positive interpersonal skills, stress tolerance, a desire for achievement, independence, creativity, service orientation, and being a problem solver and good decision maker.
“A lot of veterinary schools are looking at ways to incorporate this type of thinking into the admissions process,” says Dr. Pijanowski. He is not aware of others that are implementing changes at this point.
The changes at Illinois evolved with the consensus of the members of the Admissions Advisory Committee: Drs. Karen Campbell and Dick Wallace, veterinary clinical medicine; Drs. Tony Goldberg and Joanne Messick, veterinary pathobiology; and Dr. Aslam Hassan, veterinary biosciences. Dr. Pijanowski is chair of the committee.
“There are still a lot of nitty-gritty details to work out,” he concedes. “Ultimately, the procedure must ensure a fair process that can be applied consistently to every applicant.”
Trading Spaces
by Dr. Ronald Smith, Head, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology
Faculty in the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology (VP) are preparing for a massive reshuffling of laboratory and office space. Like participants on the television show “Trading Spaces,” they’ll be moving into space prepared by others. Unlike the show there will be no surprises.
The moves are made possible by the $4 million Veterinary Medicine Basic Sciences Building Completion Project. Since the building was built 20 years ago, the portions of the second and third floor left uncompleted have been dubbed the “shell space.” Over the years funding permitted completion of some of the third floor shell space, but the second floor remained unchanged, serving largely as freezer space, equipment storage, and home of the Veterinary Medicine Fitness Center.
Recently a team of faculty, led by Dr. Roberto Docampo from VP and Dr. David Gross, head of the Department of Veterinary Biosciences, succeeded in obtaining funding from the National Institutes of Health, the College, and the University for completion of the remaining space—10,000 square feet on the second floor for VP, and 4,000 square feet on the third floor for VB.
The remodeling project is nearing completion and relocations will begin this fall when five VP faculty members move their laboratories, offices, and student space to the new shell area. The remodeled space will also include dedicated freezer space with automatic electrical backup and research support areas such as a walk-in cold room, instrument room, and data processing area.
A second wave of moves will occur when other faculty members expand their laboratory and office space by moving into space vacated by those moving into the former shell area. A third wave of moves will occur when additional faculty move into space vacated by the previous group.
All VP faculty will be directly or indirectly affected by the remodeling project, which is ultimately intended to enhance research programs. In fact, an important concept used to sell the project was the strengthening and expansion of specific research programs. In all, eight VP programs, ranging from molecular to ecological aspects of infectious diseases, were specifically identified in the proposal.
Everyone will benefit from being able to relieve crowding and enhance research capability formerly limited by space constraints. Additional laboratory and office space will also facilitate graduate research.
This project promises to directly or indirectly benefit everyone in the department by enhancing our research competitiveness and ability to attract outstanding graduate students and faculty. A formal dedication will be held this fall.
Patients Sought for TPLO Pain Study
Large-breed dogs weighing over 25 kg with a partial or full tear of a cranial cruciate ligament are sought for a study on the treatment of pain after a tibial plateau leveling osteotomy. The new study, undertaken by Drs. Roy Barnes, Dianne Dunning, Kurt Grimm, Sarah Haldane, and William Tranquilli, all of veterinary clinical medicine, will compare two forms of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs—carprofen and deracoxib—with a positive control morphine.
It seeks data to support maximal patient comfort with the least potential for an adverse drug reaction. Dogs will be excluded from the study if they have received any NSAIDs over the previous 10 to 14 days or any neutraceuticals over the previous 30 days. The study is funded by Novartis and Pfizer.
For more information, please call the orthopedic surgery service at 217/265-5533 or contact Dr. Barnes (rbarnes@cvm.uiuc.edu; 217/333-5308) or Dr. Dunning (217/265-6262).
Office Gives College Outreach Higher Profile
Judy Mewes, secretary, Dr. Christine Merle, assistant dean, and Dr. Allan Paul, associate dean, form the core of the new Office for Public Engagement. You can reach them at 217/333-2907 (voice) or 217/333-4628 (fax).In a move that both consolidates and elevates service activities, the College has created the Office of Public Engagement to oversee continuing veterinary education, public information and outreach, and Extension work.
“The new office gives College-wide emphasis to a key aspect of our mission, our commitment to ‘address the needs of a changing profession and society in innovative ways,’ ” notes College dean Dr. Herbert Whiteley. “Functioning at the dean level, this office commands the talent of staff and faculty throughout the College.”
Dr. Allan Paul, professor of veterinary pathobiology and former coordinator of the Continuing Education-Public Service/Extension group, has accepted the position of associate dean for public engagement. Dr. Christine Merle, also formerly with the CEPS unit, will serve as assistant dean. Both officially began in their new capacities on July 1.
The Office of Public Engagement assumes the functions previously handled by the CEPS unit, such as producing Fall Conference, Executive Veterinary Program offerings, and other continuing veterinary education events. In addition, it will organize College exhibits at state fairs and breed and industry shows and lead efforts to establish greater visibility and engagement throughout the state and especially in Chicago. In all these areas the office will work closely with advancement staff in marketing, communications, and fund-raising.
“I plan to continue the traditions of outstanding outreach and continuing education that CEPS provided,” says Dr. Paul. “With this restructuring we can more effectively integrate personnel within the academic departments into these activities.” For example, faculty who currently hold a percentage Extension appointment will serve as coordinators involving all faculty in outreach in specific areas: Dr. Larry Firkins in swine, Dr. Gavin Meerdink in beef and feed safety, Dr. Dick Wallace in dairy, and Dr. Julie Whittington in wildlife and exotics.
The former CEPS unit had lost several positions—both faculty and support staff—to budget cuts in recent years. The new office is positioned to maintain the outreach mission with fewer resources and fewer people and to draw on all College units to meet the needs of veterinarians and society.
Faculty Honored for TeachingTwo faculty members were recently recognized for outstanding teaching abilities.
Dr. Mark Oyama, veterinary clinical medicine, received the Carl J. Norden Outstanding Teacher Award at the April 12 awards and scholarships ceremony. Fourth-year veterinary students selected him for outstanding teaching ability as well as character and leadership qualities. The award is sponsored by Pfizer Animal Health. Dr. John Andrews, director of the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, and Dr. Petra Volmer, of veterinary biosciences, were finalists.
Dr. Jonathan Hale Foreman, veterinary clinical medicine, in April received the University of Illinois Campus Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional Teaching, which recognizes faculty in professional or graduate programs who normally wouldn’t have an opportunity to compete for undergraduate teaching awards. The award honors teachers who demonstrate excellence in teaching and advising by taking innovative approaches to teaching, positively affecting the lives of their students, and making various other contributions to improve instruction and the curriculum. The $5,000 award also carries a $3,000 raise.
News from the Wild Side
The Second Annual “Doodle for Wildlife” event, held April 12, was a huge success, raising $22,000 for the Wildlife Medical Clinic. High-ticket auction items included a doodle by the late Fred (Mister) Rogers and behind-the-scenes tours of Shedd Aquarium and Brookfield Zoo. WMC leaders would like to thank the many vendors and individuals who sent items for the auction. Special thanks are due the local businesses that helped make the evening possible: the Highdive, Framer’s Market, Creative Catering, and Action Auction.
Also in April the Wildlife Medical Clinic completed outdoor flight cages for use by the resident birds of prey. The cages were built in part through the generosity of the Rex and Nelle Jackson Foundation and through donations in memory of Dr. Thomas E. Burke, long-time faculty member and WMC advisor who died in 2002.
A ceremony to dedicate the facility to Dr. Burke for his leadership will be held later this year.
6th Annual Conferrence on New and Re-emerging Infectious DiseasesThe sixth annual Conference on New and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases, sponsored by the College and its Center for Zoonoses Research, was held April 24 and 25. The conference featured seven speakers and 27 poster presentations.
“New and re-emerging infectious diseases, bioterrorism, and antibiotic-resistant microbial organisms threaten the health and well-being of the people and agricultural animals of the world,” noted Dr. Roberto Docampo, scientific director for CZR and professor of veterinary pathobiology. “This conference highlighted some of these problems. As this area is moving extremely fast, we can look forward to tremendous advances in the understanding of pathogens and their interaction with humans and animals.”
At the conference, keynote speaker Bertram L. Jacobs, of Arizona State University, Tempe, spoke on the prospects for improved vaccines for smallpox, a devastating disease that was eradicated from the wild in the 1970s but is still of concern as a bioterrorism agent.
Stephen C. Guptill, of the U.S. Geological Survey, explained his work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that explores movement of West Nile virus between birds, mosquitoes, and humans and seeks to predict future outbreaks of the virus.
Other talks and posters dealt with animal models of infectious diseases, intra-cellular parasites, parasite organelles, food-borne diseases, and chemotherapeutic targets.
Graduate students Steve Grimme, biochemistry, and Michael Okura, veterinary pathobiology, won first and second prize, respectively, in the poster competition.
Ceremony Celebrates Transition to PracticeOn May 4, third-year students and their family members and friends attended the fourth annual ceremony to mark their progress into fourth-year clinical rotations. For the first time at the College ceremony, students had the option of donning either a white laboratory coat or green coveralls, depending on their primary area of practice interest. Nearly one-quarter of students stepped into coveralls.
In past years, students planning a career in large animal practice had met informally to celebrate the transition. Our thanks to Pharmacia for contributing the coveralls.
Illinois to Host Student Economic SymposiumIllinois veterinary students are organizing the seventh annual Veterinary Economic
Symposium, offered through the Student American Veterinary Medical Association to increase veterinary students’ awareness of current issues facing the profession. On October 17 and 18, 250 students from Midwest veterinary schools are expected to attend the symposium in Urbana.Speakers from across the country have been invited to address topics such as gender issues, debt management, contract negotiation, large animal economics, and practice management.
Sponsors for the 2003 event will include the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC), DVMSuccess, Iams, Merial, Purina, Veterinary Healthcare Communications, Hill’s, the Hill’s Student Feeding Committee, and the Illinois Chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association (ISCAVMA).
For more information, please see www.cvm.uiuc.edu/iscavma/EconSymp.
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