Associate Professor of Small Animal Soft Tissue Surgery Marije Risselada in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, is one of a number of Purdue University faculty members who were recognized as part of the University’s 2022 Faculty Awards Convocation. After two years of virtual awards, the convocation returned to an in-person format this year as faculty gathered on May 10.
Dr. Risselada is one of 16 faculty members selected as Purdue Insights Forum Fellows. The Faculty Insights Forum involves bimonthly sessions that address the “nuts and bolts” of leadership at a university, including personal leadership styles, traits of successful academic leaders, diversity and inclusion, transparency, building consensus, recognition and appreciation, and mentoring faculty and staff. The sessions alternate with peer group meetings, in which participants interact in small groups to learn more about how different departments and colleges operate and to discuss program content in depth. Each participant also selects an experienced administrator at Purdue as a mentor. Participants and mentors meet three to four times per year to discuss the participant’s goals and personal progress toward leadership aspirations.
The Faculty Insights Forum program is intended to support faculty who are interested in exploring leadership at a university, increase the pool of potential leaders at Purdue, and expand the University’s capacity for leadership development beyond the Big 10 Academic Alliance Academic Leadership Programs.
Dr. Risselada earned her DVM degree at Ghent University in Belgium, where she also completed her first residency with the European College of Veterinary Surgeons (ECVS), before doing a second surgery residency in Florida through the American College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS). She passed both her ECVS and ACVS specialty board exams and also defended her PhD in Ghent in 2006.
Dr. Risselada spends up to 50 percent of her time providing either clinical service in the Purdue University Veterinary Hospital or mentoring junior faculty during clinical case management and surgery in the Veterinary Hospital. She also is program director of the Small Animal Surgery Residency program for the ACVS and is responsible for all administrative duties, recruiting, the interview process, and compliancy. In addition, Dr. Risselada serves as associate editor for two journals: Veterinary Surgery (the official publication of the ACVS and ECVS) and the Journal of Small Animal Practice. She also is on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association, and is an ad hoc reviewer for four additional international journals. She has published more than 50 peer reviewed research papers, and her research focus is local delivery systems, more specifically to treat residual local cancer and to treat MDR infections.
