Message from the Dean

Faculty, Staff, and Students:

Thank you to those who attended one of our Spring Forum events on Wednesday. If you were unable to attend, I encourage you to view the recording of the afternoon session to hear these updates. You can also view the PowerPoint deck here. As part of both presentations, we gave thanks to everyone at the school who worked onsite through the pandemic. In the morning session, we also recognized representatives of campus Safety Services, who helped us keep operations running smoothly.

Since joining the school in October, I have been on a listening tour that has given me a chance to engage in conversations with hundreds of people at the school as well as our external stakeholders, and to travel to our off-campus locations. I’ve seen how the school is making tremendous impacts on the lives of animals, people and the environment, and I’m grateful to be a part of it.

I want to highlight the school priorities discussed at the forum, which were formulated in collaboration between our Academic Council and administrative leadership, and informed by my conversations with you:

Research

We are proud to be the leading veterinary school for research. We can be even more successful if we break down barriers to cross-campus collaborations and incentivize transdisciplinary research.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

While the school has made strides in improving our diversity, equity and inclusion, there is much more to do. We will be hiring a chief diversity officer and must increase our student, faculty and staff diversity while ensuring retention by having an equitable, inclusive school environment.

People First

Our faculty and staff are the cornerstone of our success. The pandemic and the emergence of collaborative technologies have changed the way we work and view the workplace, and given us new opportunities to evolve our approach to work.

Facilities Planning

The school is in an exciting time of growth, and we need to reevaluate and update our master plan to optimize organization of our space usage across our facilities.

We are forming task forces to address each priority. These task forces will also solicit community feedback, so everyone will have a voice in how we move forward.

I’m also excited by our upcoming 75th anniversary. Scheduled to launch in May of next year, it will be an opportunity to celebrate our history and accomplishments and also to look to the future.

Please look for communications on these initiatives—I want your ideas and participation. You can reach out by emailing me at mdstetter@ucdavis.edu. Thank you so much for all you have done this year and for contributing to our school’s mission.

Mark Stetter
Dean