Tufts promotes Kochevar

Dr. Deborah T. Kochevar has left her position as dean at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University after 12 years. She has taken over as Tufts's interim provost and senior vice president as of April 16.

Former Provost and Senior Vice President David Harris is leaving to assume the presidency of Union College, according to a June 29 university press release.

Dr. Joyce Knoll, associate professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the veterinary school, agreed to serve as interim dean starting May 21. Dr. Kochevar has said she will not return to lead the veterinary school; a search for its next permanent dean is now underway.

Dr. Kochevar (Texas A&M '81) earned a doctoral degree in cellular and molecular biology from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 1987. She was a National Institutes of Health National Research Service Award fellow from 1984-86. Afterward, she joined the faculty at Texas A&M University, where she remained until 2006, when she became dean at Tufts.

Dr. Kochevar is a former Congressional Science Fellow to the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, is a diplomate and past president of the American College of Veterinary Clinical Pharmacology, and is active in the AVMA, having chaired its Council on Education and the Educational Commission for Foreign Veterinary Graduates. She completed service as president and chair of the board of directors of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges in 2013. She has developed special interests in international aspects of health education, including the importance of the interprofessional one-health concept in curriculum design. Her efforts in support of diversity and inclusion have been recognized at the school, university, and national levels.