Mizzou's dean heading to St. George's
St. George's University in Grand Anse, Grenada, announced May 17 the appointment of Dr. Neil C. Olson as the new dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Olson is currently dean of the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine. On Aug. 15, he will take over the position from St. George's current dean, Dr. Timothy H. Ogilvie, who is stepping down after three years.
Dr. Ogilvie's contributions to St. George's have been key in establishing superior instruction and a commitment to student success as hallmarks of the veterinary school, according to a university press release. He plans to assist in the leadership transition in the coming year.
Prior to being named dean, Dr. Ogilvie had been a visiting professor at St. George's since 2008. He was dean of the Atlantic Veterinary College at the University of Prince Edward Island from 1998-2008. Dr. Ogilvie is a 1975 graduate of the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph and a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Specialty of Large Animal Internal Medicine.
"I am honored to continue the great work that my predecessor, Dr. Ogilvie, has already laid out," Dr. Olson was quoted as saying in the same release. "I hope to keep building upon our numerous partnerships with other institutions across the world to recruit and train the best veterinarians. I'm also excited to continue developing our curriculum so that veterinary students can take advantage of the unique global environment that Grenada has to offer."
At Mizzou, Dr. Olson orchestrated a 60 percent increase in professional enrollment, which provided about $4 million a year in new tuition revenue for the veterinary college; hired more than two dozen new faculty; and oversaw the establishment of a new animal radiation oncology and imaging facility in a suburb of St. Louis, according to his biography on the university's website. Mizzou Interim Chancellor Garnett Stokes, PhD, also credited him with increasing the veterinary college's endowment and earning full accreditation for the college from the AVMA Council on Education and full accreditation for the diagnostic laboratory.
Dr. Olson serves on the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor Advisory Board and is a member of the Missouri VMA executive board. In 2014, the U.S. secretary of agriculture appointed Dr. Olson to serve on the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board until September 2016.
Prior to his appointment at Missouri in 2007, Dr. Olson spent nearly 25 years at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine in a variety of administrative and professorial roles, including senior associate dean for research and graduate studies and director of the Centennial Biomedical Campus.
Dr. Olson obtained his DVM degree from the University of Minnesota in 1975 and earned a doctorate in physiology from Michigan State University in 1982.
Dr. Carolyn Henry will become the interim dean of Mizzou's veterinary college Aug. 1. A national search will begin in the fall to find a permanent dean.
Related JAVMA content:
St. George's names Ogilvie as dean (April 15, 2014)