The director of a national research institute was named dean of the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine on Tuesday, replacing longtime administrator Ralph C. Richardson. Tammy Beckham, DVM, Ph.D., will move to Manhattan, Kan., from Texas A&M University, where she leads the Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases and the Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory. Her new $295,000-a-year job is effective Aug. 2. Dr. Beckham becomes the 12th dean in the college’s 110-year history. “She is recognized as an international expert in the diagnosis of foreign animal diseases and will be a tremendous leader to help guide us toward our goal of becoming a Top 50 public research university by 2025,” said provost and senior vice president April Mason, MS, Ph.D. Beckham also was made a tenured professor in the department of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology, an appointment she can maintain when she leaves the dean’s office. Her predecessor, Dr. Richardson, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, will return to teaching as a veterinary college faculty member after serving as dean since 1998. The Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases is a U.S. Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence. Beckham has overseen the institute since 2010 in its efforts to conduct research into foreign animal, emerging and zoonotic diseases. She also supervises the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, which operates two full-service labs and two poultry labs on behalf of the state and university. Beckham is a 1998 graduate of the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine. She earned a doctorate in biomedical science from Auburn in 2001 while serving as a captain in the U.S. Army. She has been published in numerous academic periodicals, including the Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation, the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and the Journal of Comparative Pathology and Laboratory Investigation.
