CONTINUING EDUCATION (CE)
Breathing New Life into Veterinary CE
Associate Directors of Continuing Education Drs. Jennifer Schleining and Jordan Tayce and Program Coordinator David Blazer
2022 VITA Annual Conference 42 • 2022 VMBS Annual Report
Two years ago, the Office of Continuing Education (CE) had to rethink and reshape how we delivered continuing education. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we offered synchronous and asynchronous online learning opportunities to meet the needs of veterinarians and veterinary paraprofessionals. We met face-to-face with fewer than 100 participants in-person conferences during fiscal years 2020 and 2021 combined. That changed in November 2021 when we began hosting in-person conferences again, starting with the annual Small Animal Emergency & Critical Care Conference. A long-running favorite, the conference welcomed just over 100 participants through our doors to hear lectures from experts and take RECOVER CPR training. The keynote speaker of the conference was Dr. Tom Edwards, a criticalist with years of experience as an Army veterinarian. In May 2022 the Office of CE launched VITA, our largest in-person conference since the beginning of COVID-19. The VITA conference is a multi-species conference that kicked off our “return to in-person conferences.” VITA featured over 30 faculty members speaking in one of three tracks (small animal, large animal, or special sessions), offered two laboratories for hands-on learning experiences (dental extractions and RECOVER CPR training), and was held in conjunction with the Outstanding Alumni and Rising Star Awards to provide social opportunities for the 220 guests who attended. In the future, we are seeking to expand the conference to include additional laboratories and social events to best meet the needs of our constituents. Throughout 2022, we held events that target specific aspects of veterinary medicine. The Office of CE worked with Merck Animal Health in June 2022 to host a beef cattle course complete with laboratory opportunities, and Biomedtrix in July 2022 to host an advanced course for practitioners with an interest in orthopedic surgery. The Office of CE continues to support regular School of Veterinary Medicine events such as the AgriLife Beef Cattle Short Course, Veterinary Emergency Team training sessions, and departmental seminars. We are excited to expand our offerings in 2023 with the second iteration of the VITA conference, and the return of the popular Technician Conference. Our team continues to grow, and we look forward to seeing you at an event soon!
