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Faculty Honored for Teaching
Dr. Anne Barger, veterinary diagnostic laboratory, received the Carl J. Norden Outstanding Teacher Award at the April 17 awards and scholarships ceremony. Fourth-year veterinary students selected her for outstanding teaching ability as well as character and leadership qualities. The award is sponsored by Pfizer Animal Health.
That same day Dr. Steven Marks (left) and Dr. Shelley Tischkau (right) received the first annual Teaching Excellence Award from the Illinois Student Chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association. The award, which was presented by Marsha Thompson, ISCAVMA vice president and Class of 2005 (center), was created to recognize faculty who have shown dedication and excellence in teaching.
Students in all four classes voted for the most outstanding, creative, committed teachers. Nicole DiGiacomo, ISCAVMA president, noted that “... many [faculty members] received praise and appreciation in the comments section of the ballots. Clearly students appreciate the effort put into teaching here!
Authors’ Corner:
A partial list of books published recently by College faculty.
Small Animal Dermatology Secrets, edited by Dr. Karen L. Campbell. Hanley & Belfus, 2004. College contributors included Drs. John Angus, Tim Fan, Ralph Hamor, Carol Lichtensteiger, Steven Marks, Jennifer Matousek, Adam Patterson, Rhonda Schulman, and Laura Stokking.
The Well-Being of Farm Animals: Challenges and Solutions, co-edited by Dr. John Benson and Bernard E. Rollin. Blackwell Publishing, 2004.
Handbook of Toxicologic Pathology, 2nd ed., 2 volumes, edited by Drs. Wanda Haschek, Colin Rousseaux, and Matthew Wallig. Academic Press, 2002.
Of the 16 students from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign awarded Colgate-Palmolive Undergraduate Research Fellowships for 2003-2004, three were mentored by faculty in the Department of Veterinary Biosciences. The students and their advisors are Jared Cohen and Dr. Shelley Tischkau; Paul Holze and Dr. David Bunick; and Derek Larson and Dr. Joan Jorgensen.
In addition, Maia Schoonmaker, an undergraduate who works in Dr. Jorgensen’s laboratory, received one of only 25 Summer Research Fellowships given nationwide by the Endocrine Society to students with exceptional potential for a career in endocrinology.
In May at the annual banquet of the Mu Chapter of Phi Zeta, the veterinary honor fraternity, 32 new members were inducted from the Class of 2005, the Class of 2004, graduate students, residents, and faculty. The following awards for Excellence in Research were presented:
Mu Chapter Literary Award: Basic Science: Dr. Anna K Rötting (Dr. Rötting’s manuscript was also selected as the winner of National Phi Zeta Literary Award.); Clinical Science: Dr. Isabelle A. Moreau
Research Poster Award: Basic Science: Dr. Shih-Hsuan Hsaio; Clinical Science: Dr. Cassandra Brown
Research Abstract Award: Basic Science: Dr. Luis Gondim, 1st; Afia Naaz, 2nd; Dr. Carla Morrow, 3rd; Clinical Science: Dr. Geoffrey Hutchinson, 1st; Dr. Tessa Marshall, 2nd and 3rd.
Dr. Peter Constable, veterinary clinical medicine, was an invited speaker at the VII Portuguese Cattle Conference in Porto, Portugal, in October. He spoke on fluid therapy, cardiovascular diseases, abomasal volvulus and ulceration, and small and large intestinal surgery. In November he was an invited speaker at the French Cattle Conference at the Pasteur Institute, Paris, France, where he spoke on fluid therapy in septicemic calves and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. He recently wrote an invited editorial on acid-base balance in Anesthesia and Analgesia.
Gary Cutler, storekeeper II, was one of eight staff employees campuswide to be honored with the Chancellors Distinguished Staff Award in 2004. The award recognizes exceptional performance and service to the University. He was cited for “great meticulousness in his work as well as strong investigative techniques” in his performance for the shipping and receiving department.
Dr. Dianne Dunning, veterinary clinical medicine, spoke on the fundamentals of rehabilitation to the Eastern Illinois Veterinary Medical Association.
Dr. Larry Firkins, veterinary pathobiology, was appointed in April by the Executive Board of the American Veterinary Medical Association to serve on the 13-member AVMA Task Force on the Housing of Pregnant Sows. The task force, composed of such constituent members as producers, practitioners, ethicists, and economists, was created to conduct a thorough review of the literature on the health and welfare of keeping breeding sows in gestation stalls as a result of heated debate on the topic at last year’s AVMA House of Delegates meeting. Dr. Firkins was selected to represent the research scientist perspective.
Dr. Thomas Graves, veterinary clinical medicine, was selected through an international competition for the 2004 American Association of Feline Practitioners’ Research Award. The $15,000 award was given in support of the work he and Dr. Eric Linnetz, second-year medicine resident, are conducting on renal function in cats.
Dr. Graves was also recently elected to full faculty membership in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, a multidisciplinary group of faculty devoted to graduate education and nutrition research based in the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. His involvement will focus on diabetes and obesity research.
Dr. Rex Hess, veterinary biosciences, gave two presentations as the keynote speaker at the First European Congress of Toxicological Pathology in Hamburg, Germany, last September. During that trip he was also an invited speaker at the University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Dr. Vincent Hsiao, veterinary pathobiology, was awarded the 2003 C.L. Davis Award at the annual meeting of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists. Each veterinary institution with a pathology training program nominates a resident or graduate student to receive this award, which recognizes superior scholarship, leadership, research ability, and/or diagnostic skills. Dr. Hsiao is “highly respected at Illinois, not only for his pathology skills but for his computer skills, people skills, and sage insights,” notes Dr. Matthew Wallig. Dr. Hsiao’s adviser is Dr. Wanda Haschek-Hock.
Jeff Levengood, research scientist in veterinary biosciences and with the Illinois Natural History Survey, took office as president of the Illinois Chapter of the Wildlife Society in March. The Wildlife Society is an international organization of wildlife professionals; the Illinois Chapter includes more than 100 professional wildlife biologists.
Dr. Steven Marks, veterinary clinical medicine, is co-chair of the Planning Committee for the 2006 American Animal Hospital Association Meeting. He has been asked to serve as program chair as well.
At the North American Veterinary Conference in January he offered 20 hours of labs and lectures for veterinarians and veterinary technicians.
He was also recently nominated for Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in Veterinary Educators.
Dr. Robert Prosek, veterinary clinical medicine, defended his master’s thesis entitled “Plasma endothelin-1 levels in healthy dogs and cats and in dogs and cats with spontaneously occurring heart disease.”
Veterinary Practice on the Prairie
Dr. Clifford Shipley, veterinary clinical medicine, led a group of veterinary students for the annual vaccination, deworming, ear-tagging, and bleeding of the elk and bison herds at Wildlife Prairie State Park in Peoria, Ill., in early December.
Dr. Rhonda Schulman, veterinary clinical medicine, spoke at the South Carolina Veterinary Association meeting in Charleston in January.
John R. Scott, research technologist in the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, was appointed treasurer of the American Assembly for Men in Nursing at the group’s annual conference in Cleveland, Ohio, in December.
Dr. Arthur Siegel and medical records administrator Kathy Ellis spoke at the 5th Annual SNOMED Internal Users Group meeting in San Diego, Calif., in September. They presented a poster on the use of SNOMED CT and demonstrated the VMDB Veterinary Data Application.
At the American Veterinary Health Information Manager’s Association meeting in July in Denver, Colo., they also demonstrated a Web-based abstract template, developed by the University of Illinois, that permits the entry of coded data for research efforts.
Dr. Keith Stein, dentistry resident, spoke at the 17th Annual Veterinary Dental Forum in San Diego in November. He presented the results of a study comparing hand instruments to rotary instruments when performing root canal therapy.
Dr. Heather Towle, small animal intern, was named Best Surgeon in Training at the Veterinary Orthopedic Society meeting in Big Sky, Mont., in February for her presentation on computerized tomographic evaluation of dogs with medial patella luxation. Her advisor for the project was Dr. Dominique Griffon. This was the first time an intern has won this award.
Dr. Fred Troutt, veterinary clinical medicine, was appointed to 3-year term on the AVMA Strategic Planning Committee. He also presented at the U.S. Animal Health Association meeting in San Diego, Calif., in October and at a CDC workshop on microbial contamination of animal feeds in January.
Dr. Dick Wallace, veterinary clinical medicine, received an Excellence in Extension award last fall for a campus-based Extension employee with less than 10 years of service. The program noted “Dick brings his passion, knowledge, and practical skills to Illinois dairy farm families.”
He and Dr. Larry Firkins, veterinary pathobiology, were also part of a team named Outstanding or Innovative Program Team. That recognition went for their work with Illinois TRAILL (Technology & Research: Allied and Integrated for Livestock Linkages) program, which makes research-based information and expertise available in a one-stop Web site. Visit the program at http://www.traill.uiuc.edu/.
Dr. Matt Wallig, veterinary pathobiology, received the 2003 Faculty Award from the Nutritional Sciences Graduate Student Association based in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. The honor acknowledges his involvement in student affairs within the Division of Nutritional Sciences.
Dr. Valli Collects Canadian Kudos
Dr. Ted Valli, veterinary pathobiology and former dean of the College, received a “Provincial Awards Celebrating Excellence,” or PACE, in May. The PACE program was introduced in 2002 to recognize social and economic contributions made by graduates of Alberta’s public colleges and technical institutes.
“I got hugged by Lois Hole [at right in photo], the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta,” says Dr. Valli, who earned a degree in agriculture in 1953 from Olds College, in Olds, Alberta. He received an Inukshuk sculpture at the awards ceremony.
In addition Dr. Valli received the 2004 Distinguished Alumnus award from the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) Alumni Association in June.
Dr. Valli is a 1962 graduate of the college. After earning MSc and PhD degrees at Guelph, he became a faculty member in the OVC’s Department of Pathology. He served as associate dean of research at OVC until 1990, when he became dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Illinois.
Dr. Valli told OVC’s news staff that working with graduate students was what he enjoyed most. Of the more than 30 graduate students he has advised, five are current faculty members at OVC.
“They were a marvelous part of being a professor,” he says. “They ate my food, borrowed my clothes, drove my car—we were like a family.”
Five Illinois students received scholarships in 2003 from the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association. Amber Detwiler, Class of 2004, won the Dr. Pedro Rivera $1,000 Scholarship, Amanda Daum, Class of 2005, and Cynthia Olsen, Class of 2006, received the two $500 scholarships, and Amy Jo Wolf and Marissa Wlodek, both Class of 2006, received $400 scholarships.
In February, the Student Chapter of the AHVMA held a successful Seminar for Alternative Therapies in Veterinary Medicine at the College.
Last fall Illinois students made a strong showing at the annual meeting of the American Association of Equine Practitioners. From left, back: Kimberly Gryl, Rebecca Ruemmler, Julia Foster Gawley, Elysia Schaefer, Jacob Johnson, Tracy Depuy, Sara Ford, and Jason Bundy; from left, front: Devon Townsend, Cynthia Loomis, Jessica Dunbar, and Jill Muno.
Sandra Miller, Class of 2004, has been serving on active Reserve duty since December. She will complete her fourth-year rotations when her tour is over.
Chris Stauthammer, Class of 2004, won fourth place in the 2004 Nestlé Purina College Challenge at the North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando, Fla. Shown are the Illinois fan club in attendance at the conference.
Andrew Hubner, Class of 2005 (at left, with Dr. Brian Gerloff), was awarded a $1,500 Amstutz Scholarship from the American Association of Bovine Practitioners at its annual meeting held in Columbus, Ohio. The award is given for interest in bovine medicine and scholastic achievement.
At the SAVMA Symposium in Knoxville, Tenn., in March, Elysia Schaefer, Class of 2005, was elected by the SAVMA House of Delegates as the incoming president of the National Student American Veterinary Medical Association. She takes office in July 2004. In addition, Luke Borst, Class of 2005, took first place in the research competition.
Steve Neihaus and Adriane White, Class of 2005, would like to thank the Hill’s Student Feeding Committee for financial support to participate in the Afrivet program in South Africa. The program having focused on the many options available in wildlife and conservation medicine. They reported having an amazing experience working hands-on with antelope species, rhino, buffalo, and lions.
Student members of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, including Devon Townsend and Jessica Dunbar, represented the College at the Illinois Horse Fair in Springfield on March 6 and 7.
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