What makes Cummings School so excellent is the continuity between the veterinary medicine program and graduate programs—and they do unique things. There’s such an international focus and positive outlook. Here, we have academic programs that make a global impact. It’s full circle for me with the Peace Corps.
Welcome Dr. Marvin Schulte
Cummings School’s first associate dean of graduate education brings an impressive track record of developing academic programs
The ethos of the Peace Corps has carried through Dr. Marvin Schulte’s entire career and into his new role as associate dean for graduate education and professor in the Department of Comparative Pathobiology at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University.
“As a former Peace Corps volunteer, I was taught that my job was to make things better and to make sure that when you leave, the progress is sustainable,” says Dean Schulte. “I’ve maintained that ideal of creating sustainability in my university work. As I see it, my job is bringing people together, listening to faculty, staff, and students, and providing a space where they can do their best work.”
Schulte’s three decades of experience developing graduate programs and fostering research crisscrosses the country. The first-degree program he created was his own self-designed natural science major at St. John’s University. Originally from Minnesota, Schulte was the first in his family to attend college. He served in the Peace Corps in Belize for three years after college with his wife, teaching physics and helping create the country’s first computer science curriculum.
After returning to the States, Schulte went on to earn his MS and PhD in biochemistry from the University of Minnesota. He conducted research into identifying new neurotransmitters and transporters in the brain, publishing six papers. An especially formative and inspiring advisor, Dr. James Koerner, instilled the value of mentorship, which became a central thread in Schulte’s career as he continually endeavors to bring students—from high school to postdoctoral—into his research projects.
As a postdoctoral researcher at the Medical College of Pennsylvania (now part of Drexel University), Schulte cloned serotonin receptors and studied their structure and function. He became particularly interested in studying the structure of central nervous system (CNS) receptor proteins and the importance of this knowledge in developing new drugs for neurological diseases. The mission of his laboratory is to create first-in-class drugs targeting the receptors he studies to treat diseases such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, CNS effects of viruses, age-related hearing loss, and Alzheimer’s disease. Schulte’s extensive neuroscientific research over the years has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), Infectious Disease Society of America, and American Heart Association.
The University of Louisiana Monroe College of Pharmacy provided the first opportunity for Schulte to run his own research laboratory, as an assistant professor of medicinal chemistry and biochemistry. One of his most fulfilling achievements was establishing an NSF funded program to bring high school students from disadvantaged backgrounds into his lab to experience research.
His next calling brought him to Alaska. As an associate professor and co-director of the biochemistry graduate program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Schulte worked with NIH’s IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE). He also contributed to NIH’s Specialized Neuroscience Research Program that provided opportunities for Alaska students to participate in cutting-edge neuroscience research.
Following his success at the University of Alaska, Schulte served as department chair of pharmaceutical sciences, overseeing graduate and bachelor of science programs at the University of the Sciences, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (the first pharmaceutical college in the country, now integrated into St. Joseph’s University). In this role, he spent several years dedicated to working with the college to enhance PharmD, graduate, and undergraduate education, putting his department, and the college, on a strong positive trajectory. Consistent with the desire to create sustainability, these programs continue to grow with excellent new leadership.
Similar to his work at the University of Alaska, once the program was on solid footing, Schulte was ready for his next challenge. Idaho State University Skaggs College of Pharmacy presented just that, joining as department chair and professor in biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences.
“I almost didn’t take the job because there were almost no faculty in the department, one graduate student, and minimal funding,” says Schulte. “As I thought about it, I realized that this was an opportunity to do what I’m best at. ISU is a great school with great leadership and faculty, but a number of things happened in a very short period that put the department on a shaky foundation. When I got there, I developed a plan, assembled a great team, and engaged them through common goals, and we succeeded in expanding the graduate program, increasing grant funding, and creating one of the strongest teams I have had the opportunity to work with. I, of course, didn’t do this alone. As usual, all it took was focusing on listening to the faculty and giving them the space to succeed.”
Under Schulte’s leadership, the department’s total funding grew from $10,000 to $1M and up to 24 graduate students. When the program was established, he was ready to pass the baton.
Schulte was intrigued by the opportunity to join Cummings School and apply his specialized skill set in growing graduate programs within a much larger, world-renowned institution. As Cummings School’s first associate dean for graduate education, Schulte oversees the Master of Science programs in Animals and Public Policy (MAPP), Conservation Medicine (MCM), the dual degree DVM/Master of Public Health, and the Biomedical Sciences PhD program. There is currently a pause on accepting new students to the Infectious Disease & Global Health program. Schulte will follow the faculty’s lead in determining the program’s direction to most benefit students. Graduate education was previously combined with the research deanship under Dr. Cheryl London. Schulte works closely with London, now fully focused on the prodigious research side of Cummings School.
Just four weeks in, Schulte is hitting the ground running to raise awareness of Cumming School’s graduate programs, increase enrollment, and provide professors with the support needed to expand the programs and possibly add new ones. He finds the deep collaboration between the departments of Cummings School both refreshing and impressive as he works to achieve these goals.
“What makes Cummings School so excellent is the continuity between the veterinary medicine program and graduate programs—and they do unique things,” says Schulte. “There’s such an international focus and positive outlook. Here, we have academic programs that make a global impact. It’s full circle for me with the Peace Corps.”
In terms of strategic planning for the graduate programs, Schulte says, “We want to offer relevant programs that the world needs and the job market needs so that students are able to develop their careers and be successful. I like going to work. That’s what I want students to feel when they graduate from our programs.”
With the rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and biotech, Schulte notes that education and jobs are evolving quickly too.
“We’re in a period of really great change in education as we see the impact of those technologies,” says Schulte. “Professors are valuable because of their hands-on expertise, research skills, and personal interactions with students. That’s the human side of science that I don’t feel AI can replace. We want to build out programs enriched by personal interactions, using technology to make them more individualized.”
Schulte will continue his research at Cummings School, diverging down two paths related to CNS receptors in humans and animals. He’s studying noise-related or “hidden” hearing loss, targeting a receptor in the inner ear, and viruses that can affect the CNS, such as Covid-19 and influenza, by looking at CNS receptors’ response to the rabies virus as the prototype. His research will extend into developing drugs to treat the neurological effects of viruses and hearing loss.
In the days ahead at Cummings School, teaching and researching with students tops his list.
“When it comes down to it, it’s the student interactions that are most fulfilling, watching their eyes light up when they see what they can do. Students bring energy and new ideas. Education fuels their fire while we support them. While I don’t consider myself that important in the history of science, I am proud of the impact I’ve had on students and the university communities where I have worked.”
Department:
Dept. of Comparative Pathobiology