Alumni James Waller, '96, Kelly Long, ‘96, and Susan Long, '95, visit during the alumni reception

Welcome to the February 2010 CVM alumni e-news, an electronic newsletter designed to keep you up-to-date on college and university alumni activities and news.

Florida Veterinary Medical Association 81st Conference
The FVMA will host its 81st Conference April 9-11, 2010, at the Marriott Waterside Resort in Tampa, Florida. The college will have an exhibit booth so stop by and visit with Karen Legato, senior director of development and alumni affairs. The college will co-host an alumni reception on Saturday, April 10, so be sure you sign-up to attend on your registration form. More info is posted at www.fvma.com

Silver Society Weekend – Class of 1985 25th Reunion
The Class of 1985 will celebrate its 25th anniversary reunion at the Silver Society events on Saturday, April 10. The weekend events include the annual Orange and Blue Game and Silver Society reception. The college will host a continental breakfast and campus tour for the class. Contact Drs. Diane Lewis or Nanette Parratto-Wagner for more details.

CVM Open House 2010 Cancelled
The College of Veterinary Medicine new small animal hospital is still under construction. The annual college open house is suspended for 2010.

A planning committee is planning grand opening events for fall 2010.

Alumni Council Spring Meeting
The UF CVM Alumni Council will host its spring meeting Saturday, April 17, at 10 AM at the college. Dr. Dan Martin, ‘98, is the Alumni Council Chair and Dr. Destiny Prezzano, '05 is Chair-Elect. All class reps are encouraged to attend or send an alternate.

The Alumni Council will hold an election for chair-elect and install Destiny Prezzano as Chair for 2010-2012. Nominations for chair-elect should be submitted beforehand for consideration. The council needs to vote on the Constitution and By-laws revisions that were pended from the fall meeting for lack of a quorum.

Previous minutes, department reports, and class rep list are posted on the Web.

Professional Coating Ceremony for Class of 2012
The Professional Coating Ceremony for the Class of 2012 is planned for Thursday, May 6 at 10 AM in the Phillips Center for Performing Arts. These 84 students will finish their classroom phase and enter the clinical training phase of their education. If you are asked to ‘coat' a student, please accept. All alumni are invited to attend and see the new faces of veterinary medicine.

UF CVM Homecoming Celebration 2010 – SAVE THE DATE!
Save the Date: CVM Alumni Homecoming Celebration is planned for Saturday, October 16 with the Florida Gators taking on Mississippi State. This is also the UF Homecoming Weekend. Football tickets and a pre-game meal celebration are being planned. Hotel information is posted on the alumni affairs Web site.

Upcoming Retirements

Two long-time faculty members Dr. Alistair Webb, physiological sciences, and Dr. Ellis Greiner, ID&P, have announced plans to retire in the spring. Dr. Kevin Anderson, physiological sciences, was named Teacher of the Year for 2010.

Send best wishes to these outstanding faculty members.

UF CVM rolls out Facebook page

Over the last few months, Sarah Carey, college public relations director, started a college Facebook page. Since then, the page has gained over 1800 fans and friends. Find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/UFvetmed

Golf tournament possible revival
The Veterinary Business Management Association (VBMA) student club is interested in taking on the challenge of organizing a college golf tournament. Previous tournament provided a fun and relaxed environment for students, professors, clinicians, administrators, techs, and alumni to interact.

The VBMA is in the preliminary stages of planning and would like to gauge interest in alumni participation. If you would like to play or become a golf tournament sponsor, contact VBMA

Alumni Reception at NAVC Draws Huge Crowd

The annual alumni reception during NAVC took in over 200 alumni and their families during the January conference. The classes of 2008, 2006, 2005 and 2000 had the most classmates in attendance. Former UF faculty members Dr. Eleanor Green and Dr. Jim Thompson stopped by our reception for a recharge of orange and blue!

Class of 2006 members Jennifer Wallace and Dawn Huisenga join the Gator Chomp! Dr. John Harvey received the 2010 Mark Morris Lifetime Achievement Award sponsored by Hill's Pet Nutrition. Harvey serves as the interim executive associate dean for the college.   Vet Med Research & Graduate Program Welcomes New Alumni The following people completed their non-thesis, thesis and dissertations by December 2009 and were awarded their advanced degrees. Web-based non-thesis Master of Science (MS) in Forensic Toxicology: Eugenia Brazwell; Ashley Elliott; James Lavelle; Anita Rapp; and Dina Swanson. Thesis-based Master of Science (MS) in Veterinary Medicine Sciences: Melissa Clark; Meghan Connor; Beatriz Sanz; and Kelley Thieman. These doctoral students successfully defended their dissertations by December 2009 to receive the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree: Joslyn Ahlgren; Bob Bonde; Yingling Huang; Carla Phillips; Josh Powe; Carie Reynolds; Karen Von Deneed; and LeAnn White   Alumni Class Photos Relocated The alumni class photos from 1980 to 2009 have been relocated at the college. The classes of 1980, 1984 and 2005-2009 photos are located in the SAH hallway. The remaining class photos are displayed in the Reading Room. All class photos were photographed and are now stored digitally on a DVD. If you would like to have a class photo DVD, contact the alumni affairs office.   Class Reunions Class reps for 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005, should start talking about class reunions for 2009. The following classes have these plans thus far: 1985 – Drs. Diane Lewis and Nanette Parratto-Wagner plan to join the spring weekend events on April 10. 1990 – Contact Dr. John Christoph or Dr. Frank Mills if you want to participate. 2000 – Dr. Dena Baker plans a reunion during the FL/GA game weekend on Oct 30. 2005 – Dr. Destiny Prezzano plans a reunion during RDVM day on June 26. For assistance with planning a class reunion, contact Jo Ann Winn. Individual class reunion plans are posted on the Web.

UF News

To stay abreast of what's happening at UF, visit the main Web site and click on Inside UF. This is a listing of all UF top news stories and news makers, calendar of events and other notables.   Gators for Higher Education Is an organized group of University of Florida alumni, faculty, students, staff and friends who want to help communicate the University's goals to Florida's elected officials. Their mission is to be advocates for UF and make it the best it can be — a top-ranked U.S. University that educates Florida's future leaders, drives the state's economic development, produces breakthroughs in scientific research, and serves the people of our state. Gators for Higher Education is a project of UF Government Relations in partnership with the UF Alumni Association. Thousands of alumni and friends have joined this initiative and you can too! A summary of the 2009 Legislative Session on posted on the web site, as well as a list of 2010 legislative priorities. The legislative session begins March 2. Read more http://gatorsforhighered.ufl.edu/

UF Alumni Association News

Custom Wine Personal Wine is offering UF Alumni Association members a 10 percent discount through Dec. 31. To access the discount, type in the coupon code GATOR8 when placing orders. The cut-off date for holiday orders is Dec. 15. Personal Wine's unique products include bottles that have specialized Gator labels on wines of all kinds, and can be personalized with messages. For information or to place an order, visit the Personal Wine site.