At this year’s Penn Annual Conference, the Dean’s Alumni Council welcomed the following new members:

Linda Aiken is a member of the Class of V’78 with strong ties to Penn. Licensed to practice in Florida, Dr. Aiken resides and has practiced in the small coastal town of Vero Beach for many years. Both of her grown daughters are Penn graduates: Mary (C’06) and Anne (V’06); her son-in-law, Gordon Roble, was a small animal intern at Ryan Hospital.

Gregg Arbittier is a member of the Class of V’06 and became a senior technical consultant for Elanco Animal Health after spending time as a small animal practitioner in general practice and emergency medicine in New Jersey. He has also served as a scientific services veterinarian for Royal Canin. While at Penn Vet he served as class president and continued as his class agent. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife, children and their Cairn terrier, Molly.

Patti Glennon, DACLAM is a member of the Class of V’80. After graduation, Dr. Glennon enjoyed 10 years as a small-animal practitioner in the metropolitan New York area before returning to the academic environment. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in laboratory animal medicine at the Rockefeller University and then held positions at several biomedical institutions. Dr. Glennon currently serves as college veterinarian for the City University of New York (CUNY). Dr. Glennon, her husband David Spears, and their twin teenage daughters reside in Manhattan.

The 2012 Penn Annual Conference also featured the following awards:

Created in 2011 by the Dean’s Alumni Council Awards Group, the Ralph Brinster Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes outstanding individuals who have shown innovation, excellence and leadership in the veterinary profession both nationally and internationally. Penn Vet’s Ralph L. Brinster, VMD, PhD was chosen as the inaugural recipient with future awardees to be selected as merit warrants. For more than 10 years, we have been honoring educators with the Penn Vet Excellence in Teaching Award. The input of recent graduates has been instrumental to this award, which is given annually using the following criteria:

• The educator must be thoroughly knowledgeable on the subject taught.
• The educator must communicate the subject’s information clearly.
• The information must be given in an organized and understandable manner.
• The educator must spend the time to discuss and help students with the subject.
• The students must feel that they have benefited from the educator’s instruction.

Rose Nolen-Walston, DVM, assistant professor of medicine at New Bolton Center, was selected as the 2012 recipient. Dr. Nolen-Walston received her veterinary degree from the University of Georgia, completed both an internship and residency in large animal medicine and surgery at Tufts University, and is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. Dr. Nolen-Walston is also the past recipient of the Class of 2012 New Bolton Center Campus Teaching Award and the Charles Raker Opportunity Scholarship Award.