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There was a time when tipping was simple. You sat down in a restaurant. A server looked after you for an hour or two. If the service was good, you left a gratuity. If it was exceptional, you left a little more. Today, however, tipping seems to have escaped its natural habitat. Buy a coffee? Tip. Pick up a takeaway sandwich? Tip. Purchase a bottle of water at an airport kiosk? Tip. Visit a museum gift shop? Tip. The request appears everywhere, glowing politely from the screen

The Promise and the Pitfalls Veterinary education loves competencies. In fact, modern education may love them a little too much. If Part 1 of this series explored how we assess veterinary students, and Part 2 examined the importance of mentorship, Part 3 asks a different question: Can professional competence be reduced to a series of measurable tasks? The answer, like most things in medicine, is complicated. The Rise of Competency-Based Education For much of the twentieth cen

When Process Replaces Answers Delay. Deflect. Disappear. Universities pride themselves on efficiency. Strategic plans promise agility. Administrators speak of innovation, responsiveness, and continuous improvement. New committees are formed. New reporting structures are introduced. New dashboards measure performance. And yet, when difficult questions are asked, something curious often happens. The machinery slows. Emails go unanswered. Questions are referred elsewhere. Commit

Eat until you are 80% full. It sounds almost too simple. No expensive supplements. No miracle drugs. No celebrity diet. No wearable technology tracking every heartbeat and calorie. Just three words from the Japanese island of Okinawa: Hara Hachi Bu. For centuries, Okinawans have practiced this principle, traditionally reciting the phrase before meals as a reminder to stop eating when they are about 80% full. It is one of the habits often cited in discussions of Okinawa's rema

Patience, Persistence, and the Long Game of Shared Governance There is a lesson from sport that every university administrator should remember. In the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Australia defeated Turkey 2–0 despite having only 31% of possession. Thirty-one percent. For most of the match, Turkey had the ball. They controlled the tempo. They moved it from side to side. The statistics looked impressive. Possession, passing accuracy, territory, touches. Yet when the final whistle blew

What Happened to Mentorship? In Part 1 of this series, we explored the rise of the multiple-choice veterinarian and asked whether modern assessment methods truly capture the qualities that define an outstanding clinician. But assessment is only part of the story. An equally important question is this: How do veterinarians actually learn to become veterinarians? Not how they memorize information. Not how they pass examinations. Not how they satisfy accreditation standards. How

When Assessment Becomes the Curriculum My friend Greg Bishop, DVM, is a small animal veterinarian based in Portland, Oregon, working in both emergency and general practice. Greg is also a writer, speaker, and cartoonist. He is the creator of Sasquatch Paw, an online platform that blends illustration and storytelling to explore clinical communication, professional identity, and the emotional landscape of veterinary practice. He lectures on the use of humor as a tool for connec

A Reflection on Visibility, Voice, and Institutional Storytelling Every worthwhile question deserves a second look. This three part series began with a word. Synergy. A word chosen by the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine to describe a magazine intended to connect the institution with its broader community. In Part 1, The Meaning of Synergy, I reflected on the ideals embedded within that word - collaboration, participation, shared purpose, and the belief that institution

What Role Should Stakeholders Play in the Modern University? In Part 1 of this series, The Meaning of Synergy, we explored a word. Synergy. A word chosen to represent collaboration, interaction, and the idea that institutions become stronger when diverse people contribute to a common purpose. In Part 2, The Stakeholders Who Weren't There, we examined how that idea appeared within the public narrative surrounding a major institutional transformation. The question was not wheth

After a recent conversation with a friend, I have been thinking about Australians explaining Australia to each other. Not through statistics. Not through politics. Not through tourism slogans. You’ll Never Never Know, If You Never Never Go. Just by being Australians. Australians project a glorious mixture of sarcasm, self-deprecation, affection, irreverence, and understated pride. The conversation reminded me that Australia is not merely a place. It is a personality. And Aust

Looking for Community in the Story of Institutional Transformation In Part 1 of this series, The Meaning of Synergy, I explored the significance of the word chosen as the title of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine's magazine. Synergy. A word that speaks to collaboration. Participation. Interaction. The idea that institutions are strongest when diverse people contribute to a common purpose. That principle led to a simple question. If synergy represents the power of ma

When the Name of a Magazine Raises Questions About the Process It Celebrates This essay is the first in a three-part series examining a simple but important question: What role should stakeholders play in the modern university? The inspiration for this series came from reading the Spring 2026 issue of Synergy, the magazine of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. The Spring 2026 issue celebrates a transformational philanthropic gift and the opportunities it creates for

One Simple Question At the end of every academic term, students are asked to evaluate their professors. The questions are familiar. Did the instructor communicate clearly? Was the instructor available? Did the instructor respond to questions? Did the instructor create an environment where different viewpoints were respected? Would you recommend this instructor to others? These anonymous evaluations matter. They influence merit increases, promotion decisions, tenure reviews, t

A New Gilded Age Why are universities suddenly receiving so many enormous donations? That may be the wrong question. The better question might be: Why are ultra-wealthy donors making these gifts at this moment in history? Because philanthropy never exists in isolation from the economic and political environment that produces it. And history suggests that when philanthropy accelerates dramatically, larger societal forces are usually at work beneath the surface. We are living t

In 2026, something remarkable began unfolding across American higher education. Universities announced a cascade of enormous philanthropic gifts: $100 million, $175 million, $200 million, $750 million, and beyond. Medical schools. Artificial intelligence institutes. Veterinary hospitals. Research campuses. Public health schools. Innovation centers. And increasingly, these gifts arrived attached to naming rights. Entire schools were renamed. Hospitals adopted donor identitie

The View from the Hallway. Long after the lectures are forgotten, many veterinarians remember the hallways. The smell of disinfectant and coffee before morning rounds. The resident asleep over journal articles at 2 a.m. The senior clinician standing quietly beside a difficult case. The nervous student presenting for the first time. The late-night conversations after surgery. The moments when medicine became something larger than technique. Teaching hospitals were never simply

History rarely collapses in a single dramatic moment. Civilizations, institutions, and empires usually decline slowly, almost imperceptibly at first. The warning signs emerge quietly: Values become negotiable, Leadership becomes performative, Public trust erodes, and Appearance gradually replaces substance. By the time the crisis becomes obvious, the culture that once sustained the institution has already weakened. The modern university would be wise to remember Ancient Rome

The Soul of Veterinary Specialization Every profession eventually faces a moment when it must decide what it truly values. Not in mission statements. Not in branding campaigns. Not in strategic plans filled with polished language and carefully managed optimism. But in structure. Because structures reveal priorities far more honestly than slogans ever do. Who receives support. What gets rewarded. What gets protected. What gets sacrificed when pressure intensifies. Over the cou

Building a Sustainable Hybrid Future After exploring the tensions surrounding residency training, academic workforce dilution, productivity pressures, and corporate influence, it is tempting to frame the future of veterinary medicine as a choice between two opposing worlds: Academia versus corporate practice. Scholarship versus business. Teaching versus productivity. Public mission versus private enterprise. But reality is rarely that simple. Nor is such polarization likely t

There was a time when university leadership was viewed primarily as stewardship. A dean was expected to lead a faculty. A chancellor was expected to protect the integrity of an institution. Academic leaders were custodians of scholarship, debate, intellectual independence, and public trust. Today, however, another model of leadership has increasingly emerged. The modern university executive is often no longer simply an academic leader. He or she may also be: A corporate board