Ralph
C. Richardson
Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine
Dr.
Ralph C. Richardson's career completed a full circle when he took
over as dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State
University in August 1998.
Almost 30 years earlier, Richardson graduated from K-State with a bachelor's degree in biology. A year later, 1970, he received his doctorate in veterinary medicine from K-State. Richardson then served two years as a captain in the Army's Veterinary Corps. After leaving the Army, he spent a year as an intern at Purdue University, before joining the University of Missouri-Columbia, in 1973, as a resident in the small animal internal medicine department.
After practicing in Miami, Fla., Richardson was appointed an assistant professor of medicine in the department of small animal clinics at Purdue University in May 1976. He was promoted to associate professor of medicine in the same department, and then professor of internal medicine and comparative oncology in July 1984. Richardson was appointed head of the department of veterinary clinical sciences in July 1987, and served in that capacity until he returned to K-State as dean in 1998.
During his time at Purdue, Richardson developed an interest in human-animal comparative medicine, specifically the way cancer affects the two. Richardson set out to explore the many techniques being used to make animals suffering from cancer more comfortable, and how those techniques could be applied to humans. As part of that research, he spent three months taking part in a training program in clinical oncology at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City.
Richardson is active in numerous academic, professional and scholarly societies. He became a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine in 1979. He is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and the Veterinary Cancer Society, among others. Richardson has won several awards for outstanding undergraduate teaching, including a Norden Teaching Award, and twice won the Alumni Undergraduate Teaching Award. He was named Kansas Veterinary Medical Asociation's Veterinarian of the Year in 2003 and the Paws Veterinarian of the Year from the Indiana Division of the American Cancer Society in 1996.
Richardson can be reached at 785-532-5660 or by e-mail at vetdean@k-state.edu.