Spectrum - Volume 18 Issue 29 April 25, 1996 - Talbot Center dedication scheduled for tomorrow

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including The Conductor , a special section of the Spectrum printed 4 times a year

Talbot Center dedication scheduled for tomorrow

By Jeffrey Douglas

Spectrum Volume 18 Issue 29 - April 25, 1996

The Richard B. Talbot Educational Resources Center will be dedicated in memory of the late founding dean of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine on Friday, April 26, at 3 p.m. at Virginia Tech.

A veterinary educator, research scientist, administrator, and innovator, Richard B. Talbot made enduring contributions to the profession of veterinary medicine and the society it serves during a career which spanned 36 years. He was killed in the crash of an airliner in September 1994.

Speakers will include David P. Anderson, dean of the University of Georgia's College of Veterinary Medicine; Lester M. Crawford, executive director of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges; Sherbyn W. Ostrich, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association; Thomas A. Fretz, dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Maryland at College Park; J. Carlton Courter III, Virginia commissioner of agriculture and consumer services; and President Paul Torgersen. VMRCVM Dean Peter Eyre will preside.

After earning the D.V.M. from Kansas State University and a Ph.D. from Iowa State University, Talbot held faculty positions at several American veterinary colleges, including tenure as dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia.

In 1974, he was recruited by Virginia Tech to help the university plan and build the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. He served that institution as founding dean through the graduation of its charter class in 1984.

He then served as director of the United States Food and Drug Administration's Office of New Animal Drug Administration where he implemented new regulations for the approval of animal drugs used in the United States. Following that, he returned to his teaching and research responsibilities in the college.

At the time of his death, Talbot was conducting pioneering work and a recognized international leader in the emerging field of veterinary informatics.

Talbot served the profession of veterinary medicine in a number of national roles, including membership on the National Research Council's Committee on Veterinary Medical Sciences for the National Academy of Sciences, editor of the Journal of Veterinary Medical Education, editor and secretary of the American Veterinary Computer Society and in many other capacities.

The Talbot Center includes the computer laboratory, library, classrooms, and the college center.

The computer laboratory includes 25 fully networked computer workstations that allow veterinary students to communicate in the modern university environment, access data from global information databases, and perform various instructional activities.

The Veterinary Medical Library is one of four branches of Virginia Tech's Carol M. Newman Library. It includes 14,500 volumes on-site, subscribes to over 700 academic journals, provides free electronic access to over 300 on-line bibliographic databases, and is networked to veterinary medical libraries located around the world.

Classroom facilities include two 100-seat auditorium-style lecture halls with comprehensive audiovisual systems which support the projection of static, motion, and digital images from the Internet, and a third 80-student lecture hall.

The college center is a multi-purpose facility which serves as the college's student center. It includes food service, study areas, and also serves as a center for student and college-wide convocations.