An Atlantic Veterinary College administrator and professor will move 850 miles west to take over as dean of Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph in Canada. Jeff Wichtel, BVSc, Ph.D., Dipl. ACT, was announced today as the new dean of what the education firm Quacquarelli Symonds recently ranked as the world’s fourth-best veterinary school. Dr. Wichtel will leave the University of Prince Edward Island, where he has served as a faculty member in the veterinary college’s department of health management and as associate dean of graduate studies and research. His five-year term is effective Oct. 1. “Jeff has years of experience as an administrator, researcher and clinician, and understands the complexities of a veterinary college,” said search committee chairman Serge Desmarais, Ph.D. “He is passionate about veterinary medicine and has a vision for building on OVC’s reputation for excellence to help improve lives and health.” Wichtel will replace Elizabeth Stone, DVM, MS, MPP, who became the college’s 10th dean in 2005. “I am excited and humbled to be given this opportunity,” Wichtel said. “Teaching, research and service at OVC are truly world class. … A new dean could not ask for a better base on which to build.” He was a finalist this year for the dean’s position at Atlantic Veterinary College. The job went to fellow faculty member Greg Keefe, DVM, MS, MBA. Wichtel earned his veterinary degree and a doctorate in veterinary clinical sciences from Massey University in New Zealand. He worked as a mixed-animal practitioner for four years before enrolling in a residency program at Iowa State University and moving into academia.
