College of Veterinary Medicine appoints four faculty to chairs, professorships

The College of Veterinary Medicine has appointed four of its faculty members to chairs and professorships.

“Professorships and chairs are a marvelous way for us to honor many of our leading faculty members. It gives us the opportunity to recognize their strengths within the profession in a way that donors truly appreciate,” said Ralph C. Richardson, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine.

“Friends and alumni of the college established these prestigious awards through generous gifts to the KSU Foundation,” Richardson said. “Private gifts are so essential in today’s higher education. We just can’t do it all through state funds; private funds are essential in order for us to prosper and grow to new levels.”

James W. Carpenter, professor of exotic, wildlife and zoo animal medicine, has been awarded the Edwin J. Frick Professorship in Veterinary Medicine.

Carpenter joined K-State in 1990 as head of the Exotic Animal, Wildlife and Zoo Animal Medicine Service. Since his appointment, the service has expanded from one to six veterinarians, and it is viewed as one of the premier training programs in zoological medicine. He is frequently sought by students as a mentor and adviser. His research efforts focus on medicine and management of captive exotic animals, pharmacokinetics of selected antibiotics in nontraditional animals, and parasites and diseases of exotic animals and wildlife. He is board certified by the American College of Zoological Medicine.

Edwin and June Frick established the Dr. Edwin J. Frick Endowed Professorship in Veterinary Medicine. Edwin Frick completed a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Cornell University in 1918 and joined K-State in 1919. He was named head of the department of surgery and medicine in 1935 and retired from that position in 1966 as an emeritus professor. Frick died Aug. 10, 1993, at the age of 97. Mrs. Frick resides in Manhattan.

Howard H. Erickson, professor of physiology, has been named to the Dr. Roy Walter Upham Endowed Professorship.

After a full 22-year career as a veterinarian in the U.S. Air Force, Erickson returned to his alma mater in 1981. Since his appointment, he has taught cardiovascular and renal sections of the veterinary curriculum. His innovation in teaching was recognized nationally in 1993 when he received the Merck AGVET Award for Creativity in Teaching. Erickson has received more than a quarter million dollars in the last two years from extramural agencies to support his research program in equine sports medicine and exercise physiology. The American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Research recognized his accomplishments by awarding him the 2000 Bayer Excellence in Equine Research Award.

The Dr. Roy Walter Upham Endowed Professorship in Veterinary Medicine was established with a gift from Upham’s estate. He graduated from the College of Veterinary Medicine in January 1943 and immediately began his career as a public health veterinarian. Notably, he was a lieutenant colonel in the Army Veterinary Corps in the early 1950s and director of Food, Drugs and Dairy for the Illinois Department of Public Health from 1966-1983. He died Dec. 25, 1999.

Gregory F. Grauer, department head of Clinical Sciences and professor of internal medicine, has been appointed to the Morgan K. “Al” Jarvis Endowed Chair in Veterinary Medicine.

A diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine since 1983, Grauer is recognized for his expertise in nephrology. His research efforts have focused on canine kidney disease, specifically acute renal failure and glomerulonephritis. He is one of only three individuals from North America serving as members of the International Renal Interest Society, for which he served as chairman in 2000. The Morris Animal Foundation, in recognition of outstanding contributions to animal health for research on canine glomerulonephritis, named him a Fellow in 1987, and he received the Smith Kline Beecham Award for Research Excellence in 1994.

Mrs. Mary Jarvis established the Morgan K. ‘Al’ Jarvis Chair in Veterinary Medicine in memory of her husband. Support for the fund is provided through a bequest and annual contributions to the college. Jarvis was originally from Minden, Nev., and graduated from the College of Veterinary Medicine in 1940. He and Mary married in 1942. He worked as a general practitioner, an associate professor at Colorado A&M (now Colorado State) and a supervisor of biological production for Corn States Serum Company in Omaha, Neb. Dr. Jarvis died April 9, 1972.

Jan M. Sargeant, professor of epidemiology, has been named the recipient of the W.S. and E.C. Jones Departmental Chair of Clinical Epidemiology.

Sargeant has attained national and international recognition for her research and scholarly activities. A member of the International Society of Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics, she has a well-funded, aggressive research program in the college. Her work in pre-harvest food safety is currently funded by three U.S. Department of Agriculture grants. Sargeant and her graduate students recently presented the results of this work at several national and international conferences.

The W.S. and E.C. Jones Foundation Endowed Chair in Clinical Epidemiology was established with a trust by Walter and Evan Jones. The two brothers and Walter’s wife, Olive, turned a 200-acre inheritance into a two-state 60,000-acre cattle operation. Jones and Jones Partnership prospered by buying pasture land in Kansas and Texas — some for as little as $10 per acre during the Great Depression. Oil was later discovered on some of these properties. Walter and Evan left millions of dollars in land to various charitable organizations, including several health and educational grants.

As posted in the Feb. 7, 2002 InView