Charles Czuprynski, PhD, recently became the first director of the Walter and Martha Renk Endowed Laboratory in Food Safety at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine. His laboratory will receive about $75,000 annually for five years, with an option for renewal following a review. He plans to use the endowment to expand his laboratory's work on listeriosis.

Dr. Robert A. Smith (KSU '76), Stillwater, Okla., has received a 2006 Distinguished Alumnus Award from Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine and its Veterinary Medical Alumni Association. The bovine practitioner spent most of his career on the faculty at Oklahoma State University. Dr. Smith now works for Veterinary Research and Consulting Services. He is a member of the board of the Western Veterinary Conference and the U.S. Animal Identification Organization as well as a past president of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners and the Academy of Veterinary Consultants.

The Oklahoma Veterinary Medical Association has named Dr. Richard Blake (OKL '61) as the 2006 Veterinarian of the Year. Dr. Blake worked in Cherokee, Okla., and Sulphur Springs, Texas, before establishing his practice in Oklahoma City in 1965. He is active in the Oklahoma VMA and many civic organizations.