Douglas Freeman borrowed a term from Depression era U.S. politics to outline his administrative agenda when he became dean of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon.”To begin (the consultation process) with faculty and staff here at the college, I sent an e-mail to them in my first weekend and called it the First Hundred Days,” said Freeman, referring to a phrase made popular during the first 100 days of Franklin Roose-velt’s U.S. presidency in 1933.”I told them I would spend the first 100 days really focusing on listening and learning in more detail about what everybody is doing and not looking for any major initiatives or changes during that time.”So far, Freeman’s hands-off approach seems to have achieved its objectives.Now about 85 days into his 100-day consultative phase, he is becoming more familiar with the college, its people, its programs and its facilities.So far, he likes what he sees.The college has a broad range of research programs that include basic veterinary research, disease pathogenesis, vaccine production, reproductive physiology, toxicology and a variety of other disciplines.It also collaborates with other colleges, academic centres and organizations in the broader areas of human health, pubic health and environmental health.That breadth of research, expertise and collaboration, combined with the college’s facilities, made the chance to join the vet college an exciting opportunity for Freeman.”In the United States, you can count on one hand the number of schools that have all of the health sciences on one campus,” he said. “That’s a tremendous strength, especially when you’re talking about training veterinarians in a broad health sciences arena but also in developing collaborative research programs.”Over the last six years, culminating in this coming year, we will have completed over $70 million worth of expansions and renovations to our facilities.… The WCVM’s facilities are absolutely outstanding and I think they would have to rank among the best in North America.”Freeman seems qualified to offer an accurate appraisal.During his 26-year career as a practitioner, researcher, faculty member, administrator and department head, Freeman has travelled far and wide, making career stops across the United States as well as in New Zealand and now Canada.Born in Minnesota, he completed a doctor of veterinary medicine degree, clinical residency and master of science degree in theriogenology (animal reproduction) at the University of Minnesota.He also received a PhD in reproductive physiology from the University of Idaho before taking a faculty position at a vet school in New Zealand.After returning to the U.S., he worked briefly in Iowa before taking a position as director of the equine studies program at the University of Massachusetts.Most recently, he worked at North Dakota State University in Fargo, acting as professor and head of the department of veterinary and microbiological sciences and the department of veterinary diagnostic services.While in Fargo, he also served as director of the Great Plains Institute of Food Safety at NDSU and in 2007 completed a year-long fellowship program with the American Council on Education, where he worked and studied upper administrative functions at the University of Minnesota’s Academic Health Centre.”I’m the son who can’t hold a job,” Freeman joked. “At least that’s what my dad says.”With such a diverse range of professional experience, Freeman said he has learned that every institution has its own strengths, challenges and unique perspectives.”It’s often times very interesting to cross the border and look back at home from the other direction,” he said. “You learn that wherever you’re from isn’t necessarily the centre of the professional universe. People all over the world have great programs, great ideas and a lot of skills and knowledge to share.”As far as new directions or priorities for the WCVM, Freeman said he would use what’s left of his first 100 days to become more familiar with the college.”Certainly, when you look at the veterinary profession in general, there’s a lot of need and a lot of opportunity related to production animal practice but also related to public practice or public health, so those will certainly be areas that we will be looking at.… But we still have to train veterinarians for the entire range of career opportunities that exist…. We will continue to make sure that we’re striving for excellence in our core mission even as we’re looking for new areas where our programs need to expand.”
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