“Dean Hoffman is an empathetic, visionary, and effective leader who will steer the School to continued success,” Jameson said. “His first term has been marked by substantial enhancements to the educational, clinical, and research strengths of the Penn Vet community.”
In March 2024, the Consultative Review Committee began work on a comprehensive review of Hoffman’s major first-term accomplishments. The charge further required the Committee to identify emerging challenges and opportunities facing the School and to review carefully the aims of In Principle and Practice, the University’s strategic framework.
The Consultative Review Committee charged with assessing Hoffman’s tenure as dean was united in it praise of his work, including:
The successful reaccreditation of Penn Vet by the American Veterinary Medical Association in 2024, with particular commendation for faculty recruitment, successful implementation of a new curriculum, and strength of the VMD-PhD program.
The expansion and advancement of Penn Vet’s DEI initiatives. In 2021, Hoffman hired Penn Vet’s first chief diversity officer. Under the dean’s leadership, diversity of the student body has significantly increased.
A strong commitment to partnership between Penn Vet and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This ongoing work includes joint efforts to support animal health and productivity, animal welfare, disease surveillance, sustainable agriculture, integrity of the horseracing industry, and wildlife health.
The successful implementation of a redesigned first-year curriculum in FY23. A new School-wide curriculum focused on earlier entry into clinical rotations, new clinical competencies, surgical skills, communications training, a focus on professional identity, and diversity has been developed for launch in FY25.
An impressive funding and revenue record. Penn Vet has the highest average NIH grant dollar per award of any school of veterinary medicine. From FY2018 to FY2024, research revenues from federal, Commonwealth, and private sources have significantly increased.
The Committee included six faculty members, two students, and one alumnus. Together, they reviewed budget, enrollment, and employment data, as well as conducted surveys.
In every forum, the dean’s many accomplishments were detailed: the positive effect of his collegial and supportive leadership style; his achievements in research and clinical excellence; his successes in fundraising, faculty recruitment, infrastructure renewal; and more.
Griffin Pitt, right, works with two other student researchers to test the conductivity, total dissolved solids, salinity, and temperature of water below a sand dam in Kenya.
Griffin Pitt’s upbringing made her passionate about water access and pollution, and Penn has given her the opportunity to explore these issues back home in North Carolina and abroad.
Helping robots work together to explore the Moon and Mars
Penn Engineers, NASA, and five other universities tested robotic systems designed to help unmanned explorers cooperate in the dunes of White Sands, New Mexico, paving the way for Moon and Mars exploration.
From framework to actions: Provost John L. Jackson Jr. talks Penn Forward
In a Q&A, Provost John L. Jackson Jr. explains the relationship between the strategic framework In Principle and Practice and Penn Forward—a new University-wide process and action plan that will advance Penn forward for the next decade and beyond.
