Dr. Ruby. L. Perry has served as dean of the Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine since 2015. She is also a professor of veterinary radiology and the immediate past president of the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges. She earned her DVM from Tuskegee and a master\u2019s degree in microbiology from Michigan State University. Dr. Perry holds a doctorate in educational leadership and is board-certified by the American College of Veterinary Radiology. She received the American Veterinary Medical Association\u2019s 2024 Frederick Douglass Patterson Lifetime Achievement Award.<\/p>\n
One of my themes in 2024 is raising the bar to excellence. People are like, \u201cWell, shouldn\u2019t you be doing that all the time?\u201d Sometimes, we get stuck in our comfort zone and don\u2019t raise the bar because we think we\u2019re doing pretty good. We don\u2019t know we\u2019re not doing a good job unless somebody says so. I enjoy talking to generational students who are going to be leaders in the veterinary profession and who bring to my attention how we could do things better. That\u2019s raising the bar to excellence.<\/p>\n
When I was growing up in Mississippi, I was very good at math. I\u2019m an analytical thinker and love to get in my little corner, work it out and come up with a plan. My father was a mechanic, and I worked in his mechanic shop. I would look at him putting things together, and he would say, \u201cHand me this and hand me that.\u201d It was so inspiring to see him put things together and make a car run. I know I got a little of that from him.<\/p>\n
I truly wanted to be a mathematician, and I prepared myself for that journey. I went to Miami Dade College to study computer technology and mathematics, but that journey didn\u2019t work out for me, so I had to leave and return to Mississippi. I applied to college at Jackson State University and had to work my way through school.<\/p>\n
When I came back, I wasn\u2019t sure what I wanted to do. I started working for a veterinarian in Jackson, Dr. Roland Powell. He graduated from Tuskegee and remained my mentor for the rest of my journey.<\/p>\n
I was the best kennel worker he ever had because that\u2019s what my mother taught us \u2014 \u201cYou be the best at what you do, no matter what it is.\u201d He then elevated me to veterinary assistant.<\/p>\n
I said to Dr. Powell, \u201cThis is a great field,\u201d and he said, \u201cYes, it is, and you are going to be a veterinarian.\u201d My response was, \u201cWell, no, I\u2019m trying to be a mathematician.\u201d He advised me to change my major from math to biology, which I did, and I took all the core courses. Once I completed them, he wrote my recommendation to apply to Tuskegee in 1973, and I was accepted into the veterinary program. Lord, people are going to know how old I am.<\/p>\n
Courage comes at different levels. For me, it began when I was in elementary school or maybe even earlier. My mother was a domestic housekeeper and extremely active in civil rights. She was a courageous role model, and that\u2019s where I get my courage from. I was one of six students admitted into an all-white, desegregated high school. That\u2019s another story. I vividly remember being in a math class, and the teacher would always single me out to answer questions. It so happened I was strong in math and could answer those questions. So she stopped calling on me.<\/p>\n
I had a conversation with her after that. I asked, \u201cWas it because I\u2019m Black?\u201d She responded, \u201cNo, I just wanted to make sure you understood.\u201d Approaching her was my way of being courageous.<\/p>\n
When Martin Luther King<\/a> died, I went to the principal of the high school, Dr. Smith. I asked if we could do something to honor Dr. King. He told me no but that it would be fine if we wanted to do something. My asking showed a moment of courage.<\/p>\n If you are not courageous enough to take the lead, be courageous where you are. You don\u2019t have to be the captain of the army, but you can be the one in the trenches. In your own circle, your own space, you can be courageous. When you know somebody is not being treated correctly, speak up, do something. Talk to that person on the side.<\/p>\n I\u2019m a cat person because when I went through vet school, I got stressed all the time by cats. Again, here comes the courage. I decided to get a cat because I had to learn about them, and I couldn\u2019t keep getting scratches. I currently don\u2019t have a cat since I travel so much. When my last cat passed away, I decided to wait until my travel schedule lightened before getting another. I have enough grand dogs and grand cats that I take care of, including gerbils.<\/p>\n When I wake up, I say my prayers. I thank God for getting me through the night because each day is not promised to us. I say, \u201cThank you, God, for helping me be more courageous and to get to work to see what I can do to develop people.\u201d<\/p>\n I learned on my journeys at Tuskegee and Michigan State that if I see some leadership in you, I want to help you find and develop it. That\u2019s just who I am. I love developing people.<\/p>\n I grab my cell phone and go through the text messages to see if I need to address anything crazy immediately, and then I review emails. After that, I get dressed, start the day and make every day impactful. I don\u2019t worry about tomorrow. I can only worry about what I can do at this moment in time.<\/p>\n I enjoy being out in nature. Any opportunity I have to drive someplace or just walk outside and look at nature brings a sense of peace to me. If I\u2019m at home on the weekend, I\u2019ve got to get out in a rural area, go to a park, and sometimes I just sit on a bench. I might read a book or listen to an audiobook. I enjoy looking at the dogs running around in a dog park, looking at birds, and wondering, \u201cWhat kind of tree is that?\u201d This may sound a bit cliche, but I just want to be one in nature.<\/p>\n On Saturdays, I do meditation before I start the day, and I love yoga. Disconnecting is so important, even if it\u2019s only 15 minutes. I really enjoy my audiobooks.<\/p>\n I just finished Winter Garden<\/em> by Kristin Hannah. It\u2019s about a woman in Russia and the struggles she had. That caused me to reflect on my journey and think, \u201cOh, my gosh, I can do even more.\u201d Even though I do a lot, I can do more. I can do more. I can do more.<\/p>\n Sometimes, you have to help somebody else to motivate yourself, or you have to think about the good you\u2019ve done. It\u2019s OK to beat ourselves up sometimes, but you can\u2019t stay there. You\u2019ve got to say, \u201cI could have done that better.\u201d After you do that, you do something to keep it moving. I don\u2019t always get it right. None of us gets it right the first time, and we sometimes don\u2019t get it right the second or third time. That doesn\u2019t mean you stop trying.<\/p>\n Interconnected. You cannot be in this world solo. We feed off each other\u2019s energy. We are synchronized with each other, and that\u2019s what relationships are all about. If you have an idea that\u2019s going to make a difference in the veterinary profession, there\u2019s no way you\u2019re going to make it happen entirely on your own. You have to build relationships. Everybody comes with their own strengths. I\u2019m who I am, and you are who you are. It\u2019s like spokes in a wheel. We have to overlook what we look like. We have to overlook gender. We have to overlook all those entities that make us different yet so interconnected. How beautiful is that?<\/p>\n Veterinary medicine is a beloved profession, but what\u2019s our legacy? Many of us have parents, siblings or children who don\u2019t know what we do and the importance of what we do. None of my children are veterinarians, but I tell them that whatever they do, remember to embrace people who may not have those opportunities. What will your legacy be when they ask, \u201cHow did you impact society?\u201d Ask yourself, \u201cWhat did I do in my community? What did I do in my home? What did I tell my children about making a difference in their communities?\u201d I ask myself every day, \u201cWhat can I do to make the veterinary profession better?\u201d<\/p>\n Booker T. Washington co-founded Tuskegee University (then Tuskegee Institute) in 1881 in Tuskegee, Alabama. Graduates include entertainer Lionel Richie, comedian Keenen Ivory Wayans, writer Ralph Ellison and the World War II Tuskegee Airmen. Agricultural scientist George Washington Carver taught at Tuskegee for decades and is buried on campus near Booker T. Washington\u2019s grave.<\/p>\n Check out these previously published 20 Questions profiles:<\/p>\n Tuskegee\u2019s dean, Dr.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":77210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[527],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-december-2024-january-2025","column-20-questions","clinical_topics-personal-professional-development","clinical_topics-veterinary-education"],"acf":{"hide_sidebar":false,"hide_sidebar_ad":false,"hide_all_ads":false},"yoast_head":"\n10. What would you tell folks nervous about taking the lead in making changes?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
11. Do you have any special animals in your life?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
12. What\u2019s the first thing you do in the morning?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
13. What have your life experiences taught you? <\/strong><\/h3>\n
14. What does your typical workday look like?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
15. What brings you joy, and do you get enough of it?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
16. What do you do for self-care?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
17. Do you have any favorite audiobooks?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
18. How do you stay motivated?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
19. Relationships are? <\/strong><\/h3>\n
20. Is there anything else you\u2019d like to share?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nA RICH HISTORY<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\nSTORY ARCHIVE<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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