Dr. Ralph Richardson - DVM 1970
2025 Distinguished Alumnus Award
Dr. Ralph C. Richardson, Olathe, Kansas, is the recipient of the 2025 Distinguished Alumnus Award by the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine and its Veterinary Medical Alumni Association. This award, based on outstanding achievements, humanitarian service and contributions to the veterinary profession, was presented during a luncheon at the 87th Annual Conference for Veterinarians held June 1 in Manhattan, Kansas.
Dr. Richardson served as dean and CEO of the K-State Olathe campus from 2015 to 2019 after serving 17 years as the dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University. Originally from South Carolina, he grew up in Manhattan, Kansas and earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from K-State in 1970.
“I’m humbled beyond words when I think of joining the ranks of the amazing alumni who have been honored with this award in the past,” Dr. Richardson said. “I’ve enjoyed every stage of my career. I’ve often been asked if I missed being in the clinics (or some other step along my professional journey). My answer has always been the same: ‘I’m having so much fun doing (whatever that next step may have been) that I don’t have time to ponder the past. If I’m going to fully grasp my new opportunities, I have to be willing to let go of something. My K-State DVM degree has taken me, literally, around the world. Whether military service, early clinical specialty training, private practice, clinical teaching and research, or administrative responsibilities as a department head or dean, each step has seemed to prepare me for the next phase or my journey. I couldn’t have done any of those things without the educational and experiential foundation offered to me through my classmates and teachers at K-State’s veterinary school. I am so thankful that my wife, Beverly, has been by my side every step of the way, and I thank God for His grace, showered on me as I’ve stumbled through life.“
After graduating from K-State, Dr. Richardson served as a captain in the United States Army Veterinary Corps from 1970 to 1972. He then completed an internship in small animal medicine and surgery at Purdue University in 1973. This was followed by the completion of a residency at the University of Missouri-Columbia in small animal internal medicine in 1975. After spending a year in private practice in Miami, Florida, he returned to Purdue where he joined the clinical faculty.
“Dr. Richardson continues to have an enduring legacy on the K-State College of Veterinary Medicine,” said Dr. Bonnie Rush, Hodes Family Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine. “The programs that began under his leadership have shaped the veterinary profession in Kansas and beyond.”
Hodes Family Dean Dr. Bonnie Rush, far right, presents the Distinguished Alumnus Award to Dr. Ralph Richardson, joined by his wife, Bev.
Dr. Richardson is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and a charter diplomate in the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine’s specialty of oncology. He completed a training program in clinical oncology at the University of Kansas Medical School, consulted in private practice in Chicago, and had a 22-year career as a faculty member and head of the Clinical Sciences Department at Purdue. While at Purdue, he helped establish its Comparative Oncology Program for pets with naturally occurring cancer that served as animal models for humans with cancer. Dr. Richardson provided leadership to grow the veterinary teaching, research and extension programs at Purdue.
Dr. Richardson was appointed as dean of the veterinary college at K-State in 1998. Under his leadership, enrollment experienced controlled growth from a graduating class of 79 students in 1998 to a class size of 112 by the time of his retirement in 2015. More than $72 million was raised in private support for the college including the creation of 150 scholarships and seven permanently endowed professorships. Dr. Richardson had an active role in helping to promote the Veterinary Training Program for Rural Kansas, or VTPRK, that offers a debt repayment incentive for graduates to work in rural practices in Kansas.
Dr, Richardson was a member of the inaugural board of directors of the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor, and facilitated the creation of numerous programs such as the Beef Cattle Institute, the Center for Vector-borne Diseases, the Center for Outcomes Research and Epidemiology, the expansion of the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, and the building of the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility. Under his leadership, the college initiated a DVM/Ph.D. program and an DVM/MPH program to provide training for alternate careers paths such as for working in research laboratories, public health practice, and academia.
Dr. Richardson is past president of the Veterinary Cancer Society, the Specialty of Oncology in the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, and the American Association of Veterinary Clinicians. He served in several roles in the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC). He is a member of numerous professional veterinary medical associations and organizations including the AVMA and Kansas Veterinary Medical Association.
In 2015, Dr. Richardson received the Iron Paw Award (the animal health industry’s lifetime achievement award). He has also received the 2016 AAVMC’s Recognition Lecture award and the 2021 Jay B. Dillingham Agricultural Leadership and Excellence Award awarded by the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City. In August 2024, Dr. Richardson was presented with an alumni recognition award from the K-State College of Veterinary Medicine at the Fetch dvm 360 Conference in Kansas City, Missouri.
Dr. Richardson is active in his local church by serving as an elder and participating in the church’s Biblical counseling ministry. Dr. Richardson and his wife Beverly have three married sons and 14 grandchildren.