Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at Purdue to be renamed for pioneering dean of veterinary medicine

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — To honor Willie Reed’s loyalty and service to Purdue University, the veterinary medicine profession and the state of Indiana, the Purdue University Board of Trustees on Friday (June 7) approved renaming the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory as the Willie M. Reed Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory.

Reed — who has served as dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine since 2007, among 25 total years of service to Purdue — is stepping down June 30. He will be granted dean emeritus status.

Purdue 150th Anniversary Professor S. Kathleen Salisbury, associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Veterinary Medicine and professor of small animal surgery, has been appointed interim dean of the college, effective July 1.

Reed has consistently championed One Health at Purdue — bringing together animal health, human health and plant health — and the university continues to strengthen and accelerate his groundbreaking approach to excellence and education in these areas. He has also guided the College of Veterinary Medicine in developing and executing a series of three visionary strategic plans to enhance the future through innovative educational initiatives, groundbreaking research, and creative and effective engagement programs. His strategic planning initiatives culminated in the opening of the David and Bonnie Brunner Purdue Veterinary Medical Hospital Complex in 2022 — expanding the college’s Small Animal Hospital and creating new Equine and Farm Animal hospitals to replace the Large Animal Hospital.

Reed’s leadership of the college also improved Purdue DVM and veterinary nursing education by implementing new approaches to clinical-skills training and the use of innovative technology. He fostered growth in research programs, achieving record-level research funding through expanded external support for scientific discovery that advances medicine for both animals and humans. Reed spearheaded efforts that enhanced the teaching, clinical and research facilities in Lynn Hall; increased the DVM class size by 20%; fostered successful recruitment of faculty members from around the globe in many disciplines; and significantly expanded the college’s global engagement programs.

In 2023 Reed’s many achievements were recognized when he was selected by the American Veterinary Medical Association as its inaugural recipient of the AVMA Frederick Douglass Patterson Lifetime Achievement Award, honoring his innovative leadership and contributions in supporting and promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in the veterinary profession.

Trustees also approved renaming the Data Science Building on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus to the Hall of Data Science and AI, effective July 22, when the building is set to be completed and ready for move-in. While the original name of the building accurately reflected the breadth of work over the past decades across multiple disciplines, the building’s new name will better mirror the future of Purdue data science. This renaming reflects the focus and investment Purdue Computes has placed on artificial intelligence.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, Purdue Computes and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.