Mary Ann McCrackin named university veterinarian
Mary Ann McCrackin will join Virginia Tech on Dec. 1 as the university veterinarian and director of the Office of Animal Resources, announced Vice President for Research Robert Walters.
A member of the biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences faculty at the University of Montana and an adjunct professor of small animal medicine at the University of Georgia, McCrackin has been a licensed veterinarian since 1993. She is a diplomat of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons and the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine, and is a certified manager of animal resources.
She has been director of laboratory animal resources at the University of Montana since 2004 and before that was a small animal veterinarian in private practice. She was also an assistant professor with the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine.
"We appreciate the teaching, research, animal care, and business experiences that Dr. McCrackin is bringing to Virginia Tech," said Walters.
The university veterinarian ensures regulatory compliance in the operation and management of animal facilities and that animal health is monitored, staff are trained, and preventative medicine programs are in place. Clinical veterinary staff provide clinical and surgical care for animals housed within the university lab animal facilities and provide training in humane animal care to students, staff, and faculty members.
As director of the Office of Animal Resources, McCrackin will oversee preparation of annual budgets for operation and management of the university's lab animal facilities, and directs a system of per diem cost recovery. She will work closely with the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine and its teaching and research animal care support services unit.
"We look forward to Dr. McCrackin joining the Office of the Vice President for Research and leading the Office of Animal Resources as we strive to extend to the entire university our accreditation by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International," said Rodd Hall, associate vice president for research.
McCrackin earned a bachelor's degree in English and a bachelor's degree in biology from Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., her doctor of veterinary medicine from the University of Georgia, and a Ph.D. in biochemistry and microbiology from the University of Montana.
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
