Strategic Initiatives to Drive School Forward
Shortly after Mark Stetter joined the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine as its ninth dean, he spent six months meeting with faculty, staff, students and stakeholders to help inform the school’s top priorities.
From those listening sessions and in consultation with the school’s Academic Council, four main areas of focus emerged: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; People First (employee engagement/satisfaction); Facilities; and Research. In each of these areas, working groups were formed and included over 150 volunteers from across the school.
With the help of a consultant, these working groups developed a set of recommendations and priorities that have evolved into strategic initiatives for 2024, for which the school will invest nearly $1.5M in the coming year. The timing on this works well as the school’s current strategic plan is scheduled to sunset in 2024 and our accreditation will be in 2025. This will allow us to begin work now on these important initiatives and work toward a new strategic plan later this fall. (Read more on the Strategic Initiatives and Plan.)
“While our mission and vision remain constant, it was important for us to reassess some of our key priorities,” said Dean Mark Stetter. “The world as a whole has gone through a great deal of change in the past three years and like you hear on the airplane before gathering your luggage overhead...contents may have shifted. I wanted to hear from our entire community about the issues that have shifted and ensure we are putting our resources toward our most important opportunities.”
Initiatives
Here are some of the strategic initiatives that we will be working on:
—Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI): Expansion and growth of diversity focused summer camps. This includes growing our pre-vet summer enrichment programs for undergraduates and creating new outreach programs for middle and high school students.
—People First: Creation of local mental health resources for faculty and staff. Establish a Recognition and Awards Committee which will help develop new staff awards and look at ways to improve recognition efforts across the school. Continue efforts with the faculty recruitment task force that works to improve effectiveness and efficiency of faculty hiring.
—Facilities: Renovate the Carlson library to support new SVM space for faculty, staff, and students. Establish better improved directional wayfinding and signage across the SVM portion of campus. Work with an external design firm to conduct an overall school space assessment and new facility masterplan.
—Research: Invest in two key areas include our data analytics capabilities and enhancing our research grant writing infrastructure.
People
“There have been many, many people involved in moving this process forward and I’m thankful for their commitment. The people who work here have invested so much into the school and their careers, we must continually look at ways to invest in our people and programs,” Stetter said.
Our goal is to foster an environment that inspires excellence in everything we do. We must ensure we are providing a school environment where people enjoy their work and are thriving.”
Four SVM leaders served as ambassadors for these initiatives: Danika Bannasch (research), Bruno Pypendop (people first), Mary McNally (facilities) and Monae Roberts (DEI). Special thanks to Joe Dinunzio for his leadership in facilitating all the SI work over the course of 2022-2023.
Strategic Initiatives Committee Members
- DEI Strategic Initiative Working Group
Co-Chairs: Woutrina Smith, Dean’s Ofc; Sara Garcia, VME
Tom Hinds, Dean’s Ofc
Michele Hawkins, VME
Bill Culp, VME
Karl Jandrey, Dean’s Ofc
Akinyi Naoke, CAHFS, SB
Jenessa Gjeltema, VME
Lillian Cruz-Orengo, APC
Sara Garcia, VME
Sasha Hickman-Beoshanz, VMTH
Kirsten Gilardi, OHI
Laura Van Winkle, APC
Ilana Halperin, VME
Sina Marsilio, VME
Joie Watson, Dean’s Ofc
Woutrina Smith, Dean’s Ofc
Clare Yellowley, APC
Jim Clark, Dean’s Ofc
Danika Bannasch, Dean’s Ofc
Denise Imai-Leonard, VM
Krisztina Forward, Dean’s Ofc
Eunah Preston, OHI- People First Working Group
Co-Chairs: Melissa Bartholomew, CE; Yevgeniy Gnedash, VSR; Bruno Pypendop, VSR
John Angelos, VME
Melissa Bain, VME
Lorraine Barbosa, WHC
Juliann Beingesser, CAHFS, SB
Matthew Blake, OHI
Julie Burges, VMTH
Melanie Burt-Schipke, VMDO
Simon Ehrlich, VMTH
Maura Ferrero, VMDO
Lynette Hart, PHR
Stephani Hilder, VMTH
Ashley Hill, CAHFS
Kate Hopper, VSR
Lauren Issvoran, VMTH
Eric Johnson, VSR
Dominique Laqui, VMDO
Harmony Lindberg, VMTH
Benjamin Moeller, CAHFS
Maribel Morales, VMDO
Christine Munsterman, VMDO
Kimberly Olsen, PMI
Catherine Outerbridge, VME
Helen Raybould, APM
Cessna Refsland, VMDO
Megan Rott, VMDO
Kristen Sears, VMTH
Marissa Simpson, VMTH
Katherine Skorupski, VSR
Amanda Steidlmayer, VMDO
Lorraine Thompson-Barbosa, WHC
Betsy Vaughan, VSR
Jodi Westropp, VME
Zachary Ward, CLaW
Michael Ziccardi, OHI- Research Working Group
- Sharif Aly, VMTRC/PHR
Bart Weimer, PHR
Alda Pires, PHR
Krystle Reagan, VME
Jennie Lane, OHI
Kassidy Collins, PMI
Damian Genetos, APC
Crystal Rogers, APC
Chris Brandt, SVMIT
Carrie Finno, CEH/PHR
Michael Kent, CCAH/VSR
Terry Lehenbauer, VMTRC/PHR
Pouya Dini, PHR
Brian Bird, OHI
Sara Thomasy, VSR
Pamela Lein, VMB
Michelle Giuffrida, VSR
Patty Pesavento, PMI
Isaac Pessah, ORGE/VMB
Lisa Miller, APC
Amir Kol, PMI
Peter Ernst, UCSD/PMI
Winston Vickers, WHC/PMI
Ronald Li, VSR - Facilities Master Planning Working Group
- Jon Ramsey, VMB
Ashley Carr, CAO, APC/VMBS
Scott Cooling, Dean's Ofc
Tim Samartino, Prof Ed
Stuart Meyers, APC
Mary McNally, Dean's Ofc
Mike Beech, Prof Ed
Joshua Stern, VMTH
Robert Dean Collins
Sarah Blasczysnki, VMTH, LA
Tracy Bell, VMTH
Steven Epstein, VSR
Jonathan Dear, VVME
Bret McNabb, PHR/LAC
Paco Uzal, CAHFS, SB
Lane Johnson, Acd Prog
Natalia Ocampo, VGL
Lee Ann Jansen, Advancement
Rebecca Bellone, PHR