After an extensive nation-wide search, Tufts' Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine has finally selected its new dean.
Yesterday Tufts appointed Deborah Kochevar to be the fourth dean of the veterinary school. She will replace interim dean M. Sawkat Anwer this-coming Aug. 1.
Anwer had filled in for former Dean Phil Kosch, who stepped down in June 2005 after nine years at the helm.
"I'm excited about having Dr. Kochevar join our senior academic leadership team," Tufts President Lawrence S. Bacow said in a press release. "Not only will she be an outstanding dean of the Cummings Veterinary School, she also will have much to contribute to the entire University. She has enormous energy and is a superb teacher and scholar."
"The students, faculty and staff at the Cummings School are among the best in the nation," Kochevar said in the press release. "I am thrilled to serve as dean for such a dedicated and talented group."
"We've hired the best candidate in the country," Tufts Provost and Senior Vice President Jamshed Bharucha said in the release.
Kochevar is currently associate dean for professional programs as Wiley Chair of Veterinary Medical Education at Texas A&M University's College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
She also is professor of veterinary physiology and pharmacology at the College of Veterinary Medicine, with a joint appointment in medical physiology.
As a faculty member, her research has focused on pharmacology, as well as cellular and molecular biology.
Beyond research, Kochevar has won many teaching awards. They include the Norden Distinguished Teacher Award, the Student American Veterinary Medical Association National Teaching Award in Basic Science and the Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching at Texas A&M.
Outside of Texas A&M, Kochevar is president of the American College of Veterinary Clinical Pharmacology and is active in the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA).
As a member and vice-chair of the AVMA Council on Research, she also served on the editorial board of the American Journal of Veterinary
Research.
