12-10-07

In this issue

• College news
• CVM seeks associate dean of graduate programs
• Annual luncheon will have two serving times; more desserts needed
• The Raptor Center offers holiday gift packages
• Visit the library for refreshments on Friday
• Cheese and meat gift packages available
• Some holiday giving opportunities end Friday
• Help SCAVMA raise $5,000 for Heifer International
• Calendar
• Faculty and staff news
• Dr. Richard Isaacson named president of CRWAD
• Tim Boyer receives award for best oral presentation
• Recent publications
• Research news
• Researchers complete expanded map of turkey genome
• Clinical studies currently enrolling in the VMC
• Links

College news (top)

CVM seeks associate dean of graduate programs
With the hiring of Dr. Srirama Rao as associate dean of research, College leadership decided not to have graduate programs combined with this position as in the past and to allow Dr. Rao to have 50 percent of his time to focus on his own research program. The dean met with College leadership, the directors of graduate studies, staff in the Graduate Programs Office, and Dr. Frank Cerra, senior vice president of health sciences, to discuss how to address the issue of representation and oversight of graduate programs.

The College has begun an internal search for an associate dean of graduate programs (25 percent time), who will represent the graduate programs at College leadership meetings and report to the dean. The associate dean of graduate programs will be charged with strategically directing the College's graduate programs to ensure ongoing growth and excellence and to look for synergies within existing programs, including enhanced recruiting. Anyone who is interested in applying for the position is encouraged to do so. Essential qualifications include a D.V.M., M.D., and/or Ph.D. degree and extensive experience with graduate education.

The job posting is online at employment.umn.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=67730 (you will need to cut and paste this link into your browser). If you have questions, you may contact Laura Larson, human resources director, any of the department chairs, Dr. Trevor Ames, interim dean, or Dr. Sagar Goyal or Dr. Bruce Walcheck, directors of graduate studies. The College hopes to fill the position as soon as possible.

Annual luncheon will have two serving times; more desserts needed
To help minimize the time staff, faculty, and students need to wait in line, Thursday's year-end luncheon will offer two serving times, one at 11:45 a.m. and the other at 12:30 p.m. Departments, centers, and students are asked to abide by the following designated serving times:

• 11:45 a.m.: Center for Animal Health and Food Safety, CVM administration, The Raptor Center, Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, Veterinary Medical Center, Veterinary Population Medicine
• 12:30 p.m.: Clinical Investigation Center, D.V.M. and graduate students, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Veterinary Clinical Sciences

More desserts are still needed for the event. If you plan to bring a dessert, please bring it to the lobby of Animal Science/Veterinary Medicine by 11:30 a.m. on Thursday. You may also drop it off in the dean's office before 11 a.m.

The Raptor Center offers holiday gift packages
A variety of holiday gift packages are available from The Raptor Center, including --

Gift package 1. Make a gift of $50 or more in honor of a loved one, and your loved one will receive a certificate acknowledging your gift, The Raptor Center's publication, Raptor Release, and a fine pewter, handcrafted raptor pin. Gift package 2. Adopt a raptor for one year at $120, or for two years at $240 and you can make a difference by directly supporting the care of The Raptor Center's education birds. Your loved one will receive  a 4x6 color photo, adoption certificate, brief biography of their raptor, and an invitation to meet their raptor in person at The Raptor Center. For more information on the Adopt-a-Raptor program, go to www.cvm.umn.edu/raptor/donate/adopt/home.html.

• Gift package 3. Make a gift of $250 or more in honor or a loved one, and your loved one will receive a certificate acknowledging the gift, The Raptor Center's publication, Raptor Release, and a Raptor Center embroidered fleece scarf.

For more information, visit www.cvm.umn.edu/raptor/donate/Holidaygifts.html or contact Susanna Styve at  612-624-7231 or sstyve@umn.edu.

Veterinary Medical Library news

Visit the library for refreshments on Friday

New acquisitions
The library's list of new acquisitions for November is now online at www.vetmed.lib.umn.edu/news/acquisitions

Cheese and meat gift packages available
Cheese gift boxes are available at the Department of Food Science and Nutrition dairy salesroom, open Wednesdays, 3-5 p.m., 166 Andrew Boss Lab of Meat Science. See more information.

Also available are meat lab gift packages that include maple syrup, Fireside apples, and honey, all vacuum packed. Dec. 13, 14, and 17-21, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., 26 Andrew Boss Lab of Meat Science. Order ahead. See more information.

Some holiday giving opportunities end Friday
Don't forget the College's annual holiday giving opportunities, including --

• The Hat and Mitten Tree, located in front of the dean's office (455 Veterinary Medical Center), awaits your donations of hats and mittens for adults and children in homeless shelters. Items will be collected through Friday.
• Toys for Tots. Gift drop-off boxes for donations of unwrapped, new toys will be available in each of the departmental and clinical office areas starting today. Please contribute your gift by Friday.
• Second Harvest. Bring a non-perishable donation to help restock the food shelves. Bins are available on the fourth floor of Veterinary Medical Center near the dean's office and in the lobby area of 125/135 Animal Science/Veterinary Medicine. Donations will be collected through Friday, Dec. 21.

Help SCAVMA raise $5,000 for Heifer International
The Student Chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association (SCAVMA) is trying to raise $5,000 for a Gift Ark from Heifer International, a nonprofit organization that works with communities worldwide to end hunger and poverty by providing livestock, training, and related services to small-scale farmers. A Heifer Gift Ark provides 15 pairs of animals.

"If you are looking for a holiday present for the person who has everything or are looking to go beyond the normal gift, consider giving a Heifer gift," says SCAVMA president Ian Rubinoff. Every contribution made by University of Minnesota CVM students will be matched by SCAVMA, up to $2,500.

Gifts can be made online by going to  SCAVMA's Team Heifer Web page. As of Friday, Dec. 7, $2,090 had been raised. For more information about Heifer International, go to www.heifer.org. If you have questions, contact Ian Rubinoff at feld0128@umn.edu.

Calendar (top)

Monday, December 10

New Employee Orientation
8:30 a.m.-noon
458 Veterinary Medical Center

Tuesday, December 11

No Seminar in Comparative and Molecular Biosciences

Wednesday, December 12

Hill's Pet Food Distribution
Noon-12:50 p.m. and 5:00-5:50 p.m.
Gortner Avenue dock, Large Animal Hospital

Thursday, December 13

Hill's Pet Food Distribution
7:00-7:50 a.m.
Gortner Avenue dock, Large Animal Hospital

Small Animal Grand Rounds
Multi-stage Exercise Testing in Dogs
Presented by Dr. Luca Ferasin
8 a.m.
125 Animal Science/Veterinary Medicine

CVM Year-End Appreciation Lunch
Serving times:

• 11:45 a.m.: Center for Animal Health and Food Safety, CVM administration, The Raptor Center, Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, Veterinary Medical Center, Veterinary Population Medicine
• 12:30 p.m.: Clinical Investigation Center, D.V.M. and graduate students, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Veterinary Clinical Sciences

Lobby outside 125/135 Animal Science/Veterinary Medicine
If you are bringing a dessert, please bring it to the lobby by 11:30 a.m. or drop it off at the dean's office (455 VMC) before 11 a.m.

Friday, December 14

Final examinations begin

Hill's Pet Food Distribution
7:00-7:50 a.m. and noon-12:50 p.m.
Gortner Avenue dock, Large Animal Hospital

Ph.D. Thesis Defense Seminar
Naturally Occurring and Surgically Induced Animal Models of Osteoarthritis
Presented by Erik Olson
Advisor: Dr. Cathy Carlson
9 a.m.
280 Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory
Everyone is welcome to attend.

Visit the Library for Refreshments
11 a.m.-?
The Veterinary Medical Library will have free coffee, hot chocolate, and hot cider to fortify you for final exams.

What's ahead

Final examinations: Dec. 15, Dec. 17-20

Ph.D. Preliminary Oral Examination Seminar: "Toll-Like Receptor Interactions and Their Contribution to Airway Inflammation," presented by Tamene Melkamu: Dec. 18, 1 :30 p.m., 215 Veterinary Science. Advisor: Dr. Scott O'Grady. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Holidays (University offices closed; no classes): Dec. 24-25

Holiday (University offices closed; no classes): Jan. 1

Respectful Workplace Training: Jan. 9, 1-3 p.m., 280 Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. All College of Veterinary Medicine employees must attend one session. To sign up, please contact Helen Pederson at 612-624-8673 or h-pede1@umn.edu.

Go to the Academic Health Center's calendar of events.

Go to the University of Minnesota campus events calendar.

Faculty and staff news (top)

Dr. Richard Isaacson named president of CRWAD Dr. Richard Isaacson, chair of the Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Department, has been named president of the organization Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases (CRWAD). Established in 1920, CRWAD is a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to discuss and disseminate the most current research advances in animal diseases. Research scientists from around the world present their recent research in oral or poster presentation formats at an annual meeting. Tim Boyer receives award for best oral presentation Tim Boyer, a Ph.D. student in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences with Dr. Randy Singer, won an award for best oral presentation in the epidemiology section of the 2007 Conference for Research Workers in Animal Diseases on December 4. His talk, "GIS as a Tool for Regionalization of Orbivirus Infection Risk: a Case Study in Illinois and Indiana," was co-authored by Dr. Michael Ward from Texas A&M and Dr. Randy Singer. Congratulations, Tim!

Dr. Richard Isaacson

Recent publications
Congratulations to College faculty on these recent publications:

• Paradigms in Pig Science, a new book published by Nottingham University Press, includes the chapter "Swine Respiratory Bacterial Pathogens: Bacterial Overview and Vaccine Trends," by Dr. Simone Oliveira.
• "An Integrated and Comparative Genetic Map of the Turkey Genome," by Kent M. Reed, Kristelle M. Mendoza, and Lee D. Chaves will be published in Cytogenetics and Genome Research.
• "Galectin-3 Functions as an Adhesion Molecule to Support Eosinophil Rolling and Adhesion under Conditions of Flow," by Dr. Srirama Rao, associate dean for reasearch, and seven colleagues was published in the December 1 issue of The Journal of Immunology.

Research news (top)

Researchers complete expanded map of turkey genome
The latest integrated and comparative genetic map of the turkey genome, to be published in the journal Cytogenetics and Genome Research, is a culmination of several years of international collaboration by Dr. Kent Reed and his team in the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences. The new genetic map is aligned with the whole genome sequence of the chicken and significantly expands the genomic resources available for turkey-based research. Dr. Reed and coworkers are currently using the results form this work to investigate several aspects of turkey biology, including muscle development and function, cardiac disease, immunogenetics, and toxicology.

Clinical studies currently enrolling in the VMC
For a list of clinical studies currently rolling in the Veterinary Medical Center, visit the Clinical Investigation Center Web site at http://www.cvm.umn.edu/cic/current.

Links (top)

AVMA News Bytes and other news
www.avma.org/news/info_rss.asp

CVM This Week
Back issues of CVM This Week, from June 2004 to today's issue, are at          http://www.cvm.umn.edu/newsandevents/publications/cvmthisweek/home.html.

Hills pet food distribution program
Order online through the Hills online ordering system at https://www.summationdata.com/hpn. For more information about the Hill's Pet Food Distribution program, contact Jaime Nett at nett0049@umn.edu or Alisha Leonard at leona156@umn.edu.

Housing
For information about student and off-campus housing, including a housing and roommate search service, go to http://www.housing.umn.edu/.

Job openings
For information about positions available at the College, visit   www.cvm.umn.edu/About/HumanResources/Employment   /. For detailed information about current job openings, how to apply, and application materials, go to the University of Minnesota Office of Human Resources at http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/employment/index.html.

The VMC Pulse
Issues are available online by logging in at   http://www.cvm.umn.edu/vmc/staffresources/Pulse.html.

University of Minnesota Legislative Network News
http://ga4.org/u_of_m_leg_net/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=8620389&r=

Veterinary conferences
Dates, places, and links for national and international veterinary conferences are on the College Web site atnbsp;                       http://www.cvm.umn.edu/newsandevents/conferences/home.html.

Veterinary Medical Library
For information about the Veterinary Medical Library, including new acquisitions, visit http://www.vetmed.lib.umn.edu/news.

Veterinary Practice News
Did you know that you can get a free subscription? Subscribe (or renew) online at www.vetpracticenews.com.

CVM This Week is a weekly newsletter for faculty, staff, and students of the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. Please submit news and calendar items to Sue Kirchoff, editor, at kirch004@umn.edu before noon Friday.

The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer.