Dr. Gavalchin was a gifted educator, advisor and mentor. I remember when I first met her during O-week, all the new animal science students were gathered in Morrison 146, and after a presentation introducing all of the advisors, we were split up and told to go meet our advisors for the first time.
I had just transferred to Cornell from a community college and was extremely worried about the academic transition. In the meeting with about 15 to 20 other students, she had this air of intelligence and experience about her that put all my fears at ease.
In that first interaction and every future interaction, she was someone who truly cared about her students' well-being and success in whatever they chose to do. Whether that was pursuing vet school, pursuing grad school, pursuing med school or not knowing quite what they were going to do. She had such a wealth of knowledge that she was always willing to share. I remember going into her office to talk about my plans going forward into the spring semester and discuss how I was going to recover from a tough grade in organic chemistry.
One thing about Dr. Gavalchin was that she was supportive and caring, but she was still extremely frank and forthright. After reviewing my grade and letting me know what I could do to make sure that this wouldn’t affect my overall GPA too much, she explained that it would be hard and was a slight setback, but if I did what I needed to do I would be okay.
Before leaving, she glanced at me and gestured to my school ID picture on my screen. She said, “Who is she?” I had recently cut my hair, and in my picture, I had straight shoulder-length hair. As I stood before her with my short curls, we both started laughing. After a heavy conversation, I left on a lighthearted note courtesy of Dr. Gavalchin.
In the short time I knew her, she became akin to a third parent, someone who cared about my well-being and my success.
Additional reflections were published in the CALS Newsroom, and additional coverage appeared in the Cornell Chronicle.
