Wisconsin's second veterinary dean to retire

Dr. Daryl D. Buss will step down as dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine after three decades of academic leadership.

He plans to retire from both his administrative and faculty appointments in June 2012.

Dean Buss has served as dean since 1994, when he left the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine after 15 years as chair of the physiological sciences department.

He is just the second dean in the Wisconsin veterinary school's history.

In a university press release, Dean Buss said he counts among his successes the considerable growth in research expenditures at the veterinary school and increased caseload at the veterinary teaching hospital. The 2006 return of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory to campus after more than 40 years away was another important milestone for Dean Buss, as was the establishment of the UW Center for Global Health in 2005.

With the conclusion of a contentious budget battle, the imminent retirement of a sizeable number of faculty, and the veterinary school's re-accreditation scheduled for 2015, now is the time to step down, Dean Buss said in the release.

Dean Buss received his DVM degree from the University of Minnesota in 1968 and both his master's and doctoral degrees from UW-Madison in 1975.

An authority on the circulation of blood to the heart, Dean Buss will teach his final cardiovascular physiology course this year.

He has held volunteer positions with the AVMA, including chair of the Council on Research; the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges; and the National Commission on Veterinary Economic Issues.