Leading With Loyalty

“I love A&M to my very core. Because I was a student here, I have an innate connection to this university. In any job, you want to be the very best that you can be and contribute to the forward progress of your organization. But being a former student just makes it that much closer to my heart.”

- DR. STACY ECKMAN

As the new Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital associate dean, Dr. Stacy Eckman is bringing a wealth of experience and Aggie spirit to her new position.

Story by MEGAN MYERS

As a former student, Aggie veterinarian, Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVMBS) faculty member, and newly appointed associate dean for the CVMBS’ Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital (VMTH), Dr. Stacy Eckman truly bleeds maroon.

Early on, Eckman decided to follow her family’s tradition of attending Texas A&M and didn’t even consider applying to other universities.

Today, she proudly wears her Aggie ring to work, is often seen in maroon, and enjoys every chance she gets to see Reveille, the First Lady of Aggieland, for whom she was the primary veterinarian for many years.

In her new role as associate dean for hospital operations, she will have a profound impact on Texas A&M’s VMTH, which, in addition to being renowned for its excellent patient care, plays a key role in the education of Aggie veterinary students and supports the world-class research taking place at the CVMBS.

FINDING A HOME IN AGGIELAND

Originally a civil engineering major, Eckman rediscovered her childhood love of veterinary medicine during her freshman year of college while helping care for a friend’s show steer. After changing her major to biomedical sciences (BIMS) and completing all but three hours of her degree, Eckman began taking veterinary classes as part of the CVMBS’ Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) Class of 2001.

“I really enjoyed my veterinary school experience,” Eckman said. “I made some of the best friends of my whole life in vet school.”

After graduating and spending eight years as a small animal practitioner in Corpus Christi, she felt compelled to return to Texas A&M, this time as an educator and clinician in the SATH’s emergency and primary care services.

“I love A&M to my very core,” Eckman said. “Because I was a student here, I have an innate connection to this university. In any job, you want to be the very best that you can be and contribute to the forward progress of your organization. But being a former student just makes it that much closer to my heart.”

Teaching quickly became a new passion for Eckman as she took on both preclinical courses and fourth-year clinical rotations at the SATH. While much at the CVMBS had changed since her time as a veterinary student, she felt that the general passion for training the next generation of veterinarians was the same—and still is, to this day.

“The faculty are almost completely different from when I was here as a student, but their level of commitment has been consistent,” she said. “Our faculty are exquisitely committed to students, committed to being here, committed to the research mission, and committed to teaching.”

SETTING PRIORITIES

As time went on, Eckman took on more and more responsibility at the SATH, first as a section chief and then as the first chief medical officer for the CVMBS’ Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences (VSCS). In March, she began her first fully administrative role as an associate dean.

While she will have fewer teaching responsibilities in her

new role, primarily because she will not be leading students in clinical rotations, Eckman still sees education as one of the VMTH’s top priorities.

“The teaching hospital is the pinnacle of the veterinary students’ learning; they're having to really incorporate all of the experiences they've had so far,” she said. “How you’re teaching students is just as important as what you’re teaching them. We’re teaching students not just to memorize and spit out information but how to be critical thinkers, how to find information on their own, and how to be curious about a problem and seek out an answer.”

Eckman is also focused on maintaining the VMTH’s excellent client service, patient care, and commitment to supporting research that has the potential to advance both veterinary and human medicine.

Having been a faculty member for more than a decade, Eckman said she also plans to use her connections at the CVMBS, and the larger veterinary community, to achieve her goals.

“Those relationships can be used to the hospital’s advantage and as a jumping off point to build on things we're doing within the hospital system,” she said. “I want people to know that we can be a resource for them, whether it's getting cases in for clinical trials or providing tertiary support they cannot get anywhere else, and I really do think the relationships are mutually beneficial.” “The teaching hospital is the pinnacle of the veterinary students’ learning; they're having to really incorporate all of the experiences they've had so far. How you’re teaching students is just as important as what you’re teaching them.”

- DR. STACY ECKMAN

INTRODUCING POSITIVE CHANGES

Among Eckman’s first actions is introducing three new initiatives to address areas for improvement that have been highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first two involve improving the hospital’s communications and business processes, but the third is the one that most excites her.

“My third initiative is to improve our culture within the hospital system through a new program called Culture Keepers,” Eckman said. “We want to empower the entire VMTH team to feel that we all have the same input and impact. We get better when everybody’s throwing their ideas out and sharing, and we want to make sure everybody has the place to do that.”

This new program will involve training opportunities and the designation of Culture Keepers among faculty and staff to model the attributes found among positive,

Eckman and a veterinary student

VMTH assistant director Galen Pahl, Dr. Stacy Eckman, and veterinary technician Elizabeth Hinton

hardworking team players who are able to have honest, kind conversations about conflict and power.

While the pandemic did create many challenges for the VMTH, Eckman has found that it also highlighted opportunities to enhance both the client and employee experiences.

For instance, many clients enjoy the ease of the curbside drop off and pick up procedures, so Eckman decided to continue providing that option even once clients were allowed back in the buildings.

The pandemic also prompted the VMTH to begin several new wellness campaigns and programs for its employees, which Eckman is committed to maintaining.

“There have definitely been some pros that will continue as we’re coming forward out of COVID,” she said. “We will keep in place a lot of the things that we've created to help with morale and wellness within our teams and work to provide more awareness of and solutions to the challenges we all face in veterinary medicine.”

ENTERING A NEW ERA

No matter what the future holds, Eckman is sure that the SATH will continue providing patients with the best care while training world-class future veterinarians and supporting the CVMBS’ talented research scientists.

“As the oldest veterinary school in the state of Texas and one of the top-tier veterinary schools out there, we have a history of excellence and graduating exceptional veterinarians,” Eckman said. “If the hospital system can help us make them even better yet, by fine tuning the things they could do better or increasing their knowledge base, we should continue to push on that level of excellence.

“The best thing we can do is continual improvement,” she said. “A lot of people don't like that, because what they hear when you say that is ‘constant change,’ but I think that if we continuously evolve and build on our tradition of excellence, we can be even better than we already are. I really do believe that to my core.” ■