Utah State University College of

THE HISTORY OF USU'S SCHOOL OF VETERINARY MEDICINE

WE TEACH WHAT YOU LOVE.

WE TEACH WHAT YOU LOVE.

PUBLICATION INFORMATION

NOELLE E. COCKETT President, Utah State University

DR. DIRK VANDERWALL Interim Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine

NIKLAS AARDEMA Director of Development

MICHAEL BISHOP Director of Students

LYNNETTE HARRIS Editor/Writer

MICHAEL WERNERT Graphic Designer

ETHAN BRIGHTBILL Marketing Assistant

other federal, state, or local law. Utah State University does not discriminate in its housing offerings and will treat all persons fairly and equally without regard to race, color, religion, sex, familial status, disability, national origin, source of income, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Additionally, the University endeavors to provide reasonable accommodations when necessary and to ensure equal access to qualified persons with disabilities. The following individuals have been designated to handle inquiries regarding the application of Title IX and its implementing regulations and/or USU’s non-discrimination policies: Executive Director of the Office of Equity, Alison Adams-Perlac, alison.adams-perlac@usu.edu, Title IX Coordinator, Hilary Renshaw, hilary.renshaw@usu.edu, Old Main Rm. 161, 435-797-1266. For further information regarding non-discrimination, please visit equity.usu. edu,or contact: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 800-421-3481, ocr@ed.gov or U.S. Department of Education, Denver Regional Office, 303-844-5695 ocr.denver@ed.gov. Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension

INTERIM DEAN’S MESSAGE

This is an exciting time for the Utah State University College of Veterinary Medicine. In 2022, we marked 10 years of participation in the Washington-Idaho-Montana-Utah (WIMU) Regional Program in Veterinary Medicine through which 30 students in each class cohort complete their first two years of veterinary medical training on our Logan campus, after which they move to Pullman, Washington, to complete the remaining two years of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree program at Washington State University.

From 2012 to 2022, we operated as the USU School of Veterinary within the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences. However, in 2022, the Utah Legislature approved funding to establish a full four-year DVM degree program, creating USU’s ninth college, the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Formation of the School of Veterinary Medicine in 2012 was driven by the need for more veterinarians in Utah. To that end, since graduating our first class of USU/WIMU veterinarians in 2016, we now have USU veterinarians providing services in 22 of Utah’s 29 counties. Now, by establishing the new College of Veterinary Medicine, we will be able to enhance our impact by increasing the number of students in each class cohort from 30 to 80 (once the college is fully operational). Importantly, we remain fully committed to our ongoing participation in the WIMU program as we embark upon establishing Utah State’s four-year veterinary program.

Currently, there are two primary areas of attention for the college:

1. Pursuit of accreditation through the American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education.

2. Construction of a new veterinary medical education building on the Logan campus for academic instruction in the first three years of the DVM program.

Like many new veterinary medical education programs, the fourth year of clinical instruction will be conducted using a “distributed” model of approved community-based veterinary practices that will provide clinical instruction to our students in “real-world” clinical settings. Using the distributed model of clinical instruction precludes the need to build a full-service academic veterinary teaching hospital in Logan. We anticipate enrolling our first class of students in the new four-year program in the fall of 2025. The achievements noted above reflect the tireless efforts of our faculty, staff, and students and the many benefactors and supporters who make our program thrive. To all of you, I extend my sincerest appreciation.

Sincerely,

DIRK K. VANDERWALL, DVM, PHD, DACT Interim Dean, College of Veterinary Medicine

CLASS OF 2025 PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Since the beginning, the USU College of Veterinary Medicine Class of 2025 has made it their goal to be lifelong learners who strive for academic excellence and commit to the expansion and innovation of veterinary medicine. I believe we have achieved that goal thanks to the opportunities we’ve had at Utah State.

Members of our class have assisted with embryo transfers, liver biopsies, elk blood draws, equine foaling, endurance races, and many more events which have furthered our understanding of veterinary medicine. However, we have also faced challenges during our education. I believe the close relationships fostered within our class have allowed us to overcome anything thrown our way. In difficult classes, we share notes, celebrate wins, and support losses. In times of injuries or illness, we check in with each other and help out whenever possible. Our class bond has allowed us to practice compassion and understanding better than any lecture could, and I believe we are prepared to be inquisitive, intelligent, and compassionate doctors as we continue on in this program.

Sincerely,

SYDNEY WORLEY President, Students of USU College of Veterinary Medicine

As the College of Veterinary Medicine works toward its expansion to a four-year DVM program, plans are already being drawn for a state-of-the-art facility to accommodate an expanded student body and curriculum.

However, the physical building represents only part of the college’s growing infrastructure. Another is a system of partnerships that will pair fourth-year students with clinics and hospitals throughout Utah and the Intermountain West. Under this distributed model, veterinarians will commit to hosting students in their workspaces for set periods of time, and students will choose the blocks they need to meet their degree requirements and interests.

Dr. Kerry Rood, professor and associate dean for clinical programs, is excited for students to experience clinical rotations outside of a traditional veterinary teaching hospital under the watchful eyes of local practitioners and specialists who will supervise students’ work.

“The advantage of this approach is that our students will have the clinical skills and knowledge necessary to perform as a practitioner from day one upon graduating,” said Rood. “They’ll have already seen what participating in clinics throughout the state and region looks like.”

Michael Bishop, the college’s director of students, explained that the distributed model will let students shape their educational experience to suit their needs.

“Students will have the opportunity to rotate through clinics distributed throughout the intermountain region and perhaps even farther,” said Bishop. “They can get into specialty hospitals and clinics with large animal, small animal, equine, or specialty rotations, like potentially with the Humane Society of Utah. And the intention now is to support them with travel funds and housing.”

While the distributed model is new to Utah State University, other veterinary medicine colleges have already found success with it. USU college staff and faculty visited the University of Arizona, Texas Tech, the University of Calgary in Canada, and other schools to help shape Utah State’s own approach.

Bishop noted that even universities with dedicated animal hospitals usually rely on outside experience to complete their students’ education.

“I don't know of any program that is not in actuality a hybrid model where they have a teaching hospital and these other distributed components,” said Bishop. “For instance, Washington State University offers what are called SIPE, student-initiated preceptor

experiences, where they go out into the community and have what is effectively a distributed experience.”

Rood pointed out that the model is also popular outside of veterinary medicine.

“Human medicine has been doing this longer than we have,” Rood added. “And if you get a degree in education, you're going to spend time as a student teacher in a classroom. You’ll spend time being mentored and instructed on-site by teachers that aren't necessarily associated with your university. This idea is not unique.”

While using a distributed model will save Utah State the expense of building and operating its own veterinary hospital, Rood suggested it will also help the college to collaborate with local practitioners rather than compete with them.

“Colleges with their own clinics necessarily become competitors with private practitioners,” said Rood. “You get this competitive tension that develops, and it can inhibit the progression of veterinary medicine in an area. Now, clinicians are good sports about it — they support veterinary education, et cetera — but there’s always that underlying tension. With this distributed model, however, we aren’t competing with them.”

Because the college won’t have third-year students of its own until 2028, the college isn’t currently accepting applications to partner with the university. Once everything is in place, however, the college will create an online system for potential partners to connect with the university.

The goal will be to find clinics that can offer a safe and welcoming environment for students where they can learn and grow as professionals. The academic needs of the college will also affect whom the college chooses to partner with. For instance, while the college expects to work with clinics that offer exotic animal services, it will need fewer partners with that sort of specialization compared to general small animal clinics that see cats and dogs.

Rood recognizes that clinics will be taking on a burden as well as using an opportunity when they open their doors to Utah State students

“We’re aware that it's going to take time and effort,” Rood said. “It's going to alter the flow of business to have students around. I think that can be overcome, but it's no small ask to have our students shadow veterinarians, so there will be compensation for practices who partner with us.”

At the same time, clinics stand to gain from partnering with USU.

“It could become a source of talent recruitment,” said Rood. “Students get experience at a particular practice, and it becomes essentially an on-the-job interview. For some veterinarians, being associated with a veterinary college could also bring a sense of pride. I think that giving back and helping the next generation of students will be personally rewarding.” •

By: Ethan Brightbill

In 2012, a decade before Utah State announced it would create its own four-year veterinary medicine college, the School of Veterinary Medicine opened its doors to students as part of the WIMU Regional Program. While the program has since been a success, it wasn’t always certain that veterinary medicine would come to USU — and it took no small effort to make it happen.

This is the story of how the School of Veterinary Medicine was created, told in the words of some of the many talented people who made it happen. Among their number are Noelle Cockett, president of Utah State; Ken White, dean of the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences; Bryan Slinker, retired dean of Washington State’s College of Veterinary Medicine; and Tom Baldwin and Kerry Rood, professors in the current College of Veterinary Medicine.

PART 1 Tom Baldwin and Kerry Rood

Kerry Rood: In late 2007, Mark Healy passed away. He’d been the head of the Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences Department. Tom Bunch became our interim department head, and during the search process, Tom [Baldwin] reached out to a veterinarian at Oklahoma State that had previously been at Utah State.

As told by

Tom Baldwin: Actually, he reached out to me. His name was Gilbert Reed Holyoak, and he was a classmate and good friend. We lived near one another in veterinary school.

Rood: Reed indicated he wasn't necessarily interested in the department head position, but that the department should consider a two-plus-two relationship. And at the time, Oklahoma State was talking with Arizona (State University) to work out their own two plus two. This was sometime in 2008.

Baldwin: When I got the email from Reed, I had a number of thoughts in rapid succession. The most immediate was that a two-plus-two program could bring veterinary medicine into Utah State University. The second was that it would never happen with Oklahoma, for a number of reasons. The third was that it was my responsibility to make this happen.

My fourth idea was that I would need help. Someone who was committed and an excellent communicator, who was familiar with legislative processes and had a good reputation with Utah veterinarians. So I called Rood and said, “Hey, you want to start a vet school?” He said sure. Then we went ahead and scheduled a meeting with Tom Bunch and the campus veterinarians.

Rood: From there, we knew there were things that needed to happen subsequent to us even pitching this idea. So Tom and I, with the blessing of Dr. Bunch, decided to start pecking away at some of them. And it was clear we had to do some groundwork. A pattern I've seen over and over at universities is that great ideas come up through the chain and people start working on them, but public and high-level administrative support doesn't come until the skids are greased.

Baldwin: Upper administration likes to support programs they see have traction at the base. They’re not hesitant to get behind programs with a grassroots origin, but if that's lacking, then they don't look as seriously at them.

Rood: So we made a list of what we had to do and got to work, and it was only a matter of a few days before we were looking for a partner. I reached out to my alma mater, Kansas State, and talked to the associate dean, Ronnie Elmore. When I asked if they’d partner with us, he told me they were undergoing a split with the University of Nebraska. And I reached out to Colorado State. They did not return my phone call. So regionally, we were left with a new startup at Western down in Pomona, UC Davis, Oregon State, or Washington State.

Baldwin: I’d spent 10 years at Washington State before coming here, and I knew everybody. So I picked up the phone and called their dean, Warwick Bayly, whose nickname was Waz. And I said, “Waz, can we come up and have a conversation?” He said sure and asked who should be in the room, so we named some individuals, including the director of admissions, Dr. Tricia Talcott, who was a classmate of mine and had an office next to mine for 10 years.

Rood: But when we showed up to the meeting, Warwick was gone. He’d just accepted a provost position. Bryan Slinker was the interim dean.

Baldwin: So Kerry and I went up, and we met with the vet med leadership. We told them we were hoping to partner with them on a two-plus-two program.

Rood: It was a very successful conversation. I distinctly remember Trish Talcott verifying that she loved Utah students. And the current president of Utah State, Noelle Cockett, then the dean of the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences (CAAS), still says often that one of the reasons WSU wanted to partner with us was because of the quality of Utah students.

Baldwin: In fact, I believe she mentioned that the leadership at the time of all four veterinary medicine classes were Utah kids. So we came back here, and when the response came back, the overwhelming majority of the vet med faculty at Washington State were in favor of partnering.

Rood: Parallel to this, we also needed to know what our veterinarians in Utah thought of the idea. So I created a survey in 2008 and asked them if they would consider a two-plus-two program. We didn’t yet have a partner, legislative support, or direction from the administration. It was a survey of faith, if you will, but an overwhelming majority of respondents supported the idea.

So now what we needed was a legislator to help. I made a phone call to John Mathis, who was a representative at the time in the Utah Legislature. In early ’09, Tom and I took a trip to see him. This may have been a little bit more covert. We met with Representative Mathis in his office, and he was very favorable.

Also around there, Kenneth White was appointed department head. Now this is where things get fuzzy. I think what hap-

pened was Tom Bunch sent us to Noelle Cockett rather than Ken White because during the interview process for department head, candidates were told about the idea of the two-by-two program, and that wouldn’t have happened without Noelle’s blessing.

Baldwin: Right. So you, me, and Noelle Cockett were there with Paul Rasmussen.

Rood: And I think Noelle immediately recognized that the idea would bring in additional researchers.

Baldwin: And we outlined the proposal, and we left that meeting with the dean’s stamp of approval. And I think that’s when Representative Mathis started to draft the bill for the legislature because it had to be in December before the legislative session started.

Rood: No, we missed the 2009.

Baldwin: So it came up in ‘10.

Rood: I know Mathis said he didn’t think he could get a funding bill that year. There was a lot of political groundwork that had to happen, and the row was a little tougher to hoe because the housing market crashed and there was a recession. And so I remember going with Ken White and Noelle to Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee summer meetings. We went to the legislature in 2009, and we talked in the hall to a few legislators.

Baldwin: And then we brought Ken to Pullman and introduced him to the players up there so they could start a dialogue. And eventually, of course, the legislature came on board and funded the SVM… the ideas were all maturing. It was time for our deans to lead the talks between WSU and Utah State. It was a natural process. Neither Kerry nor I felt excluded.

Rood: And leadership-wise, it made sense for people like Chris Davies to take over. We were a big team, and we had to advance the football down the field until the legislature got that thing over the goal line, and then somebody else took it from there.

Baldwin: There's no doubt it was a collaborative effort. And I think it's been a huge success for Utah State. It's just been our privilege to be part of the beginning of all of this.

Rood: And that's our story. We're sticking to it.

PART 2

Bryan Slinker

Kerry and Tom were already set to come up, so I joined the meeting. They’d approached us in part because we already knew how to do this. We had a long-standing program that began with Idaho in the mid-1970s, and then a couple of years later, we added Oregon, so we had the WOI program, Washington, Oregon, Idaho.

We started talking about general principles and goals for the program. Ken White and Noelle Cockett began to outline how they could garner support from within the university and the state, and they were quite confident that university support would translate to legislative support. They also had the support of the state veterinarian, the Utah Veterinary Medical Association, and the ag industries in the state. And just a few years before Tom and Kerry approached us, Oregon State did what Utah State's doing now and garnered support for an independent four-year school, so it was a good time for us to think about reinstituting a larger regional program. And it just went from there.

I wasn’t unfamiliar with the legislative process, and Ken was very comfortable with it. I obviously had no connections, but

we decided, I think correctly, that Ken and I would make a better case showing that we really could work together. There were meetings with key committees and chairpersons in their offices, and Ken and I jointly testified before different committees that had a hand in education or budget in the state of Utah. We each had our own part to play. I’d answer when I had the obvious answer from the Washington State perspective, and Ken and I would riff off each other. It was the usual process, just me tagging along with Ken or occasionally Noelle, as they did the things you would do to lobby for state support for such a program.

I don't know that we would have known to approach Utah on our own, but as soon as they did, we ran with it. And as we got to thinking about how Utah was playing out, we thought it might make sense to include Montana in the mix. We approached them and talked to Utah about it too, because it created a larger program, and everybody had to succeed in it. And it all worked out.

I think there were multiple reasons for that, including the effort from our universities and the support they were able to garner

from the states. But it also helped that we had experienced doing this. I was actually a student from Idaho who went to Washington State University's vet school in the original version of the WOI program. We have a long history of working well in in these kinds of partnerships and managing curriculum so that everything fits together.

The other thing that had happened in the years before Tom and Kerry approached us was that I’d been involved in WWAMI, known as “Wammie.” That's Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho, and it’s a multi-state medical education program at the University of Washington that also includes WSU. They had a long history predating any of our veterinary programs, and they knew how to make a distributed program succeed. We learned a lot about how they did examinations and handled faculty development, and that gave us a wealth of knowledge. We were able to combine that with our own history of education in veterinary medicine and melded those experiences with the goals of Utah and ultimately Montana in how we structured our programming.

It was a transition time for Washington State University’s vet school. We’d just had a provost leave, and Warwick Bayly, who was dean of the vet school at the time, was asked to be interim provost. I stepped in to help, so we were sort of co-deans until he became interim provost and I remained interim dean.

As told by

PART 3

Ken White

some state legislators. At the time, there was one in the House of Representatives named John Mathis who was a veterinarian from Vernal. And I think Kerry also helped because he was the Utah State Extension veterinarian, so we relied on him to work with the Utah Veterinary Medical Association to get support.

The first presentation we gave to legislators was in May prior to the legislative cycle in 2010. Bryan Slinker and I gave the presentation to the interim Natural Resources and Ag Committee about setting up this school, and then I spent the rest of the summer and fall with our government liaison, Michael Kennedy, visiting 40 or 50 legislators across the state to explain the idea. We’d answer their questions, and if we didn’t have the answers, we’d get the data.

Many of the legislators were surprised and thought we already had a veterinary school. Part of what I did was explaining that no, what we had was WICHE, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, which would fund three Utah residents to let them pay resident tuition at a participating vet school for four years. Sometimes I was by myself with Representative Mathis or Neil Abercrombie helping me, and other times, Dr. Slinker came down and helped.

I agreed to look into it and started asking questions. It had already evolved into creating a partnership with an existing veterinary school, which was nothing new, but they were thinking about this enormous budget, like $10 or $11 million, and that seemed a bit ridiculous.

We had a meeting to get input on what everyone was thinking. The question for us was which schools were our students going to now, and the answer was probably about half to Washington State and half to Colorado State.

I sent Kerry and Tom up because of Tom's connections with the WSU faculty. Their dean was Bryan Slinker, and he was really keen on the idea. I then reached out to him and assembled several committees to look at feasibility and how we would put this together, and I got a lot of help from Bryan Slinker.

The guys were thinking of hiring a bunch of new faculty, and as I looked at the proposal, I realized that was unnecessary,

we already had physiologists and cell biologists here. So I developed a plan with Chris Davies, and we decided it made a lot more sense to use existing ADVS faculty for the most part, which meant mostly changing teaching assignments and managing teaching roles. Although for some things, like anatomy and some pathology, we did need to hire brand new faculty.

We had committees look at what the curriculum would be in partnership with WSU, and I got some estimates for how we could remodel existing classroom laboratories to do an anatomy lab and so on. We were able to put together a budget that was a bit more realistic: about $3.4 million, of which about half went toward Washington State for taking the 20 Utah resident students and letting them pay resident tuition during their last two years in Pullman. The other half was paying for the new faculty, operating budgets for the classes, and buying out time from existing faculty.

Once we had all that, we vetted it with

Keep in mind that we had a huge fiscal downturn from '08 through essentially '11, and we got this thing approved and funded in 2010 when they were cutting budgets. I think we did a good job highlighting to them why it was so important. We had huge demand for veterinarians in Utah, and we weren't able to fill job openings, yet every student other than the three in the WICHE program had to pay non-resident tuition. $60,000 to $80,000 a year in tuition can really limit how fast you can recover the money you paid for education.

I’d been a faculty member both at the ADVS Department here and at the animal science department at Louisiana State University before I came to USU, and there were so many highly qualified students that wanted to go to veterinary school but couldn’t. They had the passion, but when you look at a $60,000 a year tuition, it's pretty hard to make the math work out. I wanted to create more opportunities for those kids to access that profession.

I first heard about the idea of the vet school when I was interviewing with Noelle Cockett for the position of department head for ADVS (Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences). She explained that some of the veterinarians in the department were talking about creating a school of veterinary medicine here and asked if I could assess whether that was really feasible or not.

As told by

4

Noelle Cockett

The first time I heard about the two plus two was when I was the dean at the College of Agriculture, and I met with Paul Rasmussen, Tom Baldwin, and Kerry Rood. They had a double-sided one-pager about the program, and I was intrigued by it.

I remember the number one question I had was why would Washington State want to partner with us instead of just having students from the first year to the fourth? And the reason they gave was that we had capacity here at USU in terms of classrooms and animals and faculty, and WSU did not. But if they were to increase their program by the number we were proposing, they’d be able to make it work.

Then my question was why Utah State, and it was because we already had a strong relationship with them. We were taking some of their graduates on as residents at the Utah Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, and WSU had commented that whenever they recruited a student from Utah State into their fouryear program, they were always one of their very best students. They were industrious and studious, and this would let WSU expand their number of USU graduates.

The next question was cost. They threw out some value, and it was many millions. And I thought, my gosh, where are we going to get that money? They said that the legislature would fund it. I’d had some dealings with the legislature, so I said, “Man, this is a big price sticker. Let me talk to you guys about how this works. First, we need a strong advocate.”

At that time, Senator Lyle Hillyard was co-chair of the Executive Appropriations Committee for the Utah Legislature. He was from Cache Valley and had always supported Utah State. I don't remember who talked to him, but it was quickly relayed that he wanted to do this.

Then the faculty had Ruby Ward, who’s a professor in applied economics, do a model with tuition and the number of students and faculty, and she and Kerry Rood came in and showed me their spreadsheet. We had to tweak the numbers, and there were some people grumbling that the program wouldn’t be as good with less money. But I said, “We want to get it done, don't we? So sharpen your pencil.”

Neil Abercrombie had also just started as the vice president for government relations, and he was more tuned into the state

government, whereas prior to that, it was Michael Kennedy, who was more tuned into the federal. And Neil said we should try that year because if we did, then the legislators could get used to the amount we're asking for even if they didn’t fund it then.

But then it just it started rolling, and legislators like Senator Hillyard, John Mathis, and another whose name I can’t remember started convincing the others. The members of the rural caucus were all supportive, and soon more than half of the legislators were saying this was a great idea.

Incidentally, Neil Abercombie was also our vice president until this last year. And he said he felt like his career had been bookended with the vet program. On the front end was the two plus two, and on the back was the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Utah Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory MYSTERY CASE

LAMB PLACENTA DIAGNOSES

By E. Jane Kelly, DVM, MS, MPH, DACVPM, DACVM

This case is loosely based on submissions to the Utah Vet Diagnostic Laboratory. It is spring. Lambing is due to start in a week. Several ewes have aborted lambs and have had small weak lambs that only survive for hours after birth. The owner submits several lambs and associated placentas to the diagnostic laboratory for necropsy. The fetuses are all autolyzed and the placentas look like this:

What

Anyway, once we got the funding, there were legislators who asked why we didn’t just do all four years at Logan. I told them that it was just so much money. After probably three or four years, it did get noisier and noisier with people asking why we weren’t standing alone. But Ken and I had a strong relationship with Bryan Slinker, and we felt like he had gone on the line to make this happen, so it would have been a poke in the eye to go off on our own then. After 10 years into it, though, we realized that our faculty were very, very strong and our animal facilities worked great, and the state had more demand than what we could meet through the Washington State program.

Demand exceeding capacity was one of the complications when we were starting the two-plus-two program as well. We had to talk the legislature into giving the money they using for the WICHE program to us instead, and WICHE was very unhappy with us. They started calling people to convince them not

to do it. But WICHE was supporting maybe three, four students from Utah, and the twoplus-two program got us 20 from Utah plus 10 more from elsewhere.

I remember either Brigham Young University or Utah Valley University complaining in one of the hearings about WICHE funding being taken away because they feared their graduates wouldn’t be able to attend our program. It was pretty unusual at the time for a university to criticize another one like that.

We had to stress that this was open to all Utah students and that we would make sure we had good representation from all of the colleges and universities here in Utah, not just USU. But we've had more students from each of the universities come through the two-plus-two program than ever went through WICHE. And WICHE did ultimately lose that money.

We got everything together by the next year, and that’s when the first class entered the program. That class as a whole was so

excited. It was inspiring to hear their stories, how long they’d wanted be veterinarians, what their backgrounds were. And now you had 30 people that were going to be able to pursue that.

We had John Mathis come at one point to speak to the students, and his talk was an eye opener. He said, “You folks have to realize you're more than a veterinarian when you graduate. You become a community leader, somebody they’ll listen to, and you need to give back to that community. You need to get involved in politics, you need to get involved in your church, you just need to get involved, whether it's with youth groups or whatever. You have more to give than just being a veterinarian, and you have to realize the stature of what you're bringing to your community.” And I thought that was a great message for these young people to hear. •

are your differential diagnoses and what are other important features of this case? •

MIND THE GAP: Advice on the Transition from USU to WSU

When students in Utah State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine complete their second year, they transfer to Washington State University’s (WSU) Pullman campus as part of the WIMU Regional Program in Veterinary Medicine. The change can be a big one for students who are already facing the rigors of vet school, but Heather Hamblin and Matthew Barnes of the Class of 2023 and Ty Carpenter of the Class of 2024 have made the transition — and thrived in the process.

How are you doing at WSU? What’s the experience of your third and fourth years been like?

Hamblin: Overall, my experience at WSU has been great. I’ve learned a lot, had great professors, and enjoyed opportunities in the teaching hospital.

Third year was definitely challenging in terms of academic rigor, but I feel like I was well-prepared by my professors at USU.

What surprised you most about Pullman?

Hamblin: Honestly, I was surprised by how isolated the town is, and how much the town revolves around the school. While I don’t like being so far away from everything, I appreciate how the town rallies around the school

and the students. It feels like the students and faculty make up a good portion of the population here, and you can hardly go anywhere without running into another student, professor, or someone else related to the vet school.

Carpenter: We moved up in the latter part of the summer, so the university crowd wasn't here yet, and it wasn't as lively as you’d think a university town would be. When the semester started up, life came back and things were

30 in a class to 120. It's overwhelming, especially that first month, but as you get into it, you start to figure things out. And now we're 10 or 12 tests in to this semester, right in the thick of it, but I think we figured it out. And I'm doing well.

Barnes: I’m doing well at WSU. Third year was a challenge mostly because we had a lot of different classes. I think we had two tests per week

Carpenter: I’m doing good so far. It's a lot, moving from an area that you know relatively well into an area that you don't. And then there’s going from throughout most of that time, so it was important to stay on top of studying and not get behind. However, I enjoyed those classes more than a lot of the courses we had in first and second year because we were learning the fun part of medicine: diagnosing and treating problems.

I’ve also really enjoyed my fourth year. It’s very hands-on since it’s all rotations, and the residents and faculty have all been really fun to work with. If we show interest in something, they’re always willing to teach us how to do more. It’s just important to ask if you can get involved since they will assume you don’t have an interest otherwise.

a little more like I expected. But for a city that houses a D-1 school, there just weren’t as many people as you’d expect from the outside looking in.

Even so, it’s a fun city to be a part of. Between Pullman and Moscow, Idaho across the border, there's an almost innumerable number of places to eat or to go out. I think you could find a different place to go out every week for two years between them, and there's everything from Asian to Hawaiian. There are also a lot of churches and religious communities around Pullman and Moscow, and they do fun things we’ve able to participate in, like trunk-or-treat.

Coming out here, you see there are no trees, just rolling hills of wheat. There are no irrigation systems out in the hills, so you wonder where the water comes from. And then all of a sudden, the rain hits, and there's water everywhere. It's different from the Mountain West.

Barnes: The winter weather conditions surprised me. I was used to Nevada and Utah roads where they are great about plowing and getting salt down. In Pullman and Moscow, they do plow some of the roads, but a good majority

of them are snow-packed. On the roads that do get plowed, the snow is generally pushed into the center of the roads and then removed at a later date. They also don’t usually put salt out that I have noticed. Instead, they use what I would describe as pea gravel. The roads are travelable and usually aren’t too bad unless we get a good storm, but it was still a surprise.

How did USU prepare you for your final two years in the WIMU program?

Hamblin: USU helped me prepare for my final two years by teaching me how to study, work hard, and persevere. The professors at USU were kind and compassionate, but they know how to challenge students to help us develop into hard-working veterinary professionals.

The small class size also gave me an amazing group of colleagues with whom I was very close, and that has been so helpful in the transition to WSU. The amount of hands-on experience and opportunities to see how things work “in real life” has proved invaluable in developing my clinical knowledge.

Carpenter: The best thing USU does is starting students off in a smaller, more intimate setting. There are only 30 students in a class, and the staff and faculty get to know you by sight. You feel like you can approach them with any

question you have. It’s an environment that fosters learning just a little bit easier, and the student community you develop in Utah follows you up to Pullman. When I got here, I knew I had 30 other students that I could approach and hang out with rather than starting cold turkey.

Barnes: USU helped me ask questions and build a relationship with my professors. At USU, the class size is so small that fading into the background

isn’t an option. Our professors knew us by name, and the smaller class size made me feel more comfortable asking questions. We were also able to go into more depth on topics we were interested in.

I think the professors at USU were teachers first and researchers second, by which I mean every professor had a true passion for teaching students, and they were all very good at it! They were excited about their topics and engaging in lectures. Most of them seemed like they were having a conversation with us rather than giving a rehearsed speech. That helped me learn better, and I felt like I had a pretty good understanding of each topic.

What one piece of advice would you give to students looking ahead to their time at WSU?

Hamblin: My advice is to make the most of your time here. Don’t be afraid to find time to explore campus and the surrounding cities. There are a lot of unique experiences in this part of the country, you just have to be willing to go out and find them.

Also, take the initiative to join clubs, go into the teaching hospital, and get involved in the vet school. Don’t feel bad that all your WSU cohort colleagues are more familiar with it all.

Carpenter: Stay close to your Utah community. They can be the base that you can go back to while you reach out and make more friends with the other 90 students that you have fun with.

Also, don't freak out. Unless you’re from the area, your initial thought when you get here is probably going to be that this place is different from anything you've ever experienced. But something really cool that my wife says is that while it's scary, it's roller coaster scary, not haunted house scary. When you're going up that hill on a roller coaster and you come down, it’s a little bit scary, but it’s also fun, and you just embrace it.

By: Ethan Brightbill

Barnes: The best advice I can give is to take every opportunity to interact with the professors, especially in one-on-one or small group situations. Getting to know them well can open

up a lot of opportunities that might not otherwise be available. During my first month in Pullman, I agreed to help on a research project outside of class on racehorses. I got paid for helping, which was nice, but I also had the opportunity to exercise the race horses and breeze them, which involves letting them run as fast as they can like in a race. It was a fun experience.

I also got to know the researcher, who is an internationally renowned equine exercise veterinarian, quite well. That allowed me to learn and do things I will likely never have the opportunity to try again. I then got to know other faculty through him, which opened even more learning opportunities, like drawing blood and placing catheters in horses, which I now feel very comfortable doing. So definitely try to venture outside your comfort zone, because you never know what opportunities will become available through those experiences. •

Dr. Heloisa

Rutigliano: Award-Winning Teaching is Shaping Curriculum for Future Veterinarians

Associate Professor Heloisa Rutigliano has won several teaching awards during her time at Utah State University, including most recently a USDA Excellence in College and University Teaching Award in the regional category. Now, in addition to being an outstanding educator, she chairs the College of Veterinary Medicine’s curriculum committee where she is working to shape what generations of new veterinarians will learn.

Hailing from Brazil, where her father is a farmer and her mother is a Portuguese teacher, Rutigliano earned a doctor of veterinary medicine degree from Sao Paulo State University as well as a master of science and a Ph.D. in animal biology at the University of California Davis. She received USU’s Eldon J. Gardner Teacher of the Year Award in 2021, and she remains committed to both pedagogy and research.

What is it about your approach to teaching that students respond to?

Dr. Rutigliano: I care about my students’ success and their learning. I come from a family of farmers and educators, so agricultural education has always interested me.

My mission as a mentor and educator is first to expose students to knowledge that intrigues and inspires them; second, to train well-rounded professionals with skills such as problem-solving, pro-

fessional conduct, and logical and ethical reasoning; and finally, to create an environment that allows for collaboration and learning.

I think of my classroom as a learning community, and a few attributes are needed to make that work. Students engage through active rather than passive learning activities, and I try to make learning relevant, engaging, and fun using real-life and clinical cases. I also work to establish clear expectations that align with my instruction and assessments to help foster transparency. Finally, I aim to create an inclusive learning environment that empowers my students to become confident professionals and life-long learners.

You have numerous publications on bovine pregnancy and other subjects. How does the research side of your job affect your work as an educator?

Dr. Rutigliano: I maintain an extramurally funded research laboratory where students can become involved in research activities related to reproductive physiology in ruminants, and I have directly trained and mentored over 20 students in my laboratory ranging from high school to Ph.D. students. As a mentor, my goal is to provide opportunities for my mentees to acquire the knowledge and skills to become successful scientists, such as a solid theoretical foundation in their field of study, critical and independent thinking skills, and a strong work ethic. I strive to maintain a collaborative and interactive

environment in my laboratory by meeting with mentees often, clearly presenting my expectations and timelines for student progress and completion of their degrees, providing them with timely and specific feedback, and by keeping their professional goals in mind during training.

I also provide senior graduate students the opportunity to mentor less experienced students. This provides a dual learning opportunity in which the senior graduate students gain mentoring experience while the junior students gain new knowledge and skills.

My scientific background also helps me in my teaching. I approach teaching similarly to how I approach research. The scientific method tells us to ask a question or identify a need for change, search the literature on what is already known about that event, construct a hypothesis and objectives, conduct a study with appropriate controls, collect and interpret results, communicate those results, and then develop a new hypothesis.

I believe the teaching method should be similar. I strive to use empirical evidence to identify the best practices in teaching I should use. I identify something in my course that could be improved or changed, search the literature to see what is known about it, and implement a new teaching method, assignment, or assessment. I collect and interpret the results to see if the approach was effective, and I communicate my results to

colleagues via conference presentations, publications, and discussions. Finally, I try to identify parts of this process that could be further developed and improved.

How has your experience as an educator prepared you for your role on the curriculum committee?

Dr. Rutigliano: The opportunity to chair the curriculum committee of the new College of Veterinary Medicine was a dream come true. Throughout my 10 years of working as an instructor of vet med courses, I’ve always gone out of my way to integrate my course content with other courses, to make teaching relevant and applicable to our future veterinarians, and to develop my students’ professional skills. The curriculum we’re creating encompasses several of the things I’ve been trying to do in my courses, such as content integration, alignment of content between disciplines, case-based learning, and developing the capacity in our students to be critical thinkers, problem solvers, effective communicators, and life-long learners.

What’s the greatest challenge you’ve faced on the curriculum committee? And what have you found to be most rewarding?

Dr. Rutigliano: The greatest challenge has been to do something I’ve never done before. Even though I had participated in the

curriculum review process at the Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine, developing a curriculum from the ground up has forced me to develop new skills.

I’ve been lucky to be surrounded by a committee that’s been amazing to work with. We’ve had our ups and downs and moments of not knowing what direction to take or how to move forward, but gradually, we’ve been able to trust ourselves and our capacity to do something novel. •

USU College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences Dean Ken White and Dr. Rutigliano

Dr. Heloisa Rutigliano with other 2022 USDA Excellence in Teaching awardees.

Dr. Arnaud Van Wettere Honored with Pathology Educator Award

Associate Professor Arnaud Van Wettere received the 2022 MidCareer Educator Award from the American College of Veterinary Pathologists in a ceremony at the organization’s annual conference in Boston. Dr. Van Wettere teaches in Utah State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

“I try to present the material in the context of where students are going to see it,” Van Wettere said. “I want to show them that we’re not learning this material just because it exists, but because it’s pertinent to their life as a veterinarian. When we teach them something, it’s because they need to know it, even if it’s a rare disease.”

As a diagnostic pathologist at the Utah Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, Van Wettere has no shortage of experience with rare and common diseases alike — and that makes a difference.

“It’s easier to teach a material you live every day rather than teaching out of a book you don't practice,” Van Wettere said. “I can show them cases in class I’ve seen

before that are relevant to what they’re learning. I wouldn’t conceive of teaching a material I don’t practice. I wouldn’t feel good about teaching it.”

As a graduate of the University of Liege’s doctor of veterinary medicine program, a former assistant professor of avian medicine at the Ludwig-Maximillian University in Munich, and a former assistant professor of pathology at North Carolina State University, Van Wettere has perspective on educating vet students that goes beyond the United States. He noted that while many American programs place more emphasis on the practical aspects of veterinary medicine, his own education in Belgium provided a deeper look into some of the sciences behind what veterinarians do, such as biochemistry and bacteriology, as well as some things that aren’t part of American vet school curriculum at all, like food safety.

Van Wettere sees value in both approaches and notes that neither has remained static over time. And as Utah State

works to establish its four-year program, he knows that the educational experience will continue to evolve.

“We're changing,” explained Van Wettere. “The curriculum and the way we teach vet students will be different from what we do now. We keep trying to improve what we do.”

One thing that hasn’t changed for Van Wettere is his love of birds. As an accomplished falconer and birder, he also spends his free time working with or watching birds, and his passion has informed many of his career choices.

“It's pretty much driven my life since I was 12 years old,” Van Wettere said with a laugh. “I became a veterinarian because I had a passion for animals and birds especially. That drove me to vet school and afterward a residency in avian medicine at the University of Minnesota. During my avian residency, we were meeting with a pathologist every week, and that led me to seek more training in pathology and to become a pathologist myself. My passion for birds and wildlife directed where I live, what I do, everything. I still do a fair amount of bird-related pathology work.”

Finding time to instruct students can be a challenge when there’s also diagnostic pathology work and research to be done, but Van Wettere also manages to mentor residents at the UVDL and advise USU doctoral students. He takes pride in his work as a professor.

“I feel very privileged to teach vet students,” Van Wettere said. “They’re very bright and very motivated. Not everyone is so lucky.” •

By: Ethan Brightbill

Niklas Aardema Named New Development Director

As the College of Veterinary Medicine prepares to become a four-year program, it must also ready itself to connect with the veterinarians, Utah State University alumni, and others who can contribute to the college’s success. Spearheading that effort is Director of Development Niklas Aardema, formerly an associate director of development for the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences.

Development is an important part of any college, but many people don't know what the term means. How would you describe your responsibilities as the new development director?

Aardema: My primary responsibility is to link people who have a passion for what the College of Veterinary Medicine is doing and connect that back to Utah State. Whether they're an alumnus of the current program, a USU undergrad who went to veterinary school elsewhere, a long-term practitioner in Utah, or a grateful client whose animal was cared for by a veterinarian, all of these people have a passion, and we want to be able to connect that back to Utah State and help them to increase our impact on the lives of others. That may be giving back through scholarship support, contributing to the new building that will house the College of Veterinary Medicine, or it can be through what we call the three T’s: their time, talents, or treasure. That’s what we do in development: we help bring people back to campus and connect them to USU, to our students. We help them see what we're doing and get them involved.

What was your journey to working in the College of Veterinary Medicine?

Aardema: I grew up in North Ogden, came to Utah State for school, and never left. I got both my bachelor's and master's here in nutrition science and never thought I would end up in development, but just by happenstance, that's where my path led. I've been working in development in the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences for the last three years, and with the School of Veterinary Medicine becoming its own college, there was an opportunity to step into this role.

It felt like a natural progression. I already know a lot of veterinarians who are either Utah State alums or have been involved with the university, and I've come to really enjoy working with vets and people who have a passion for animals. To be able to help those people give back, especially to a brand-new college, is exciting,

especially since this is Utah’s first and only college of veterinary medicine. It's a really exciting prospect to see what we can do to grow the impact that Utah State's already had through the WIMU Regional Program in Veterinary Medicine and increase that in the coming years.

What is the greatest challenge facing the new college in terms of development?

Aardema: I think it’s just increasing awareness outside of the Utah State community that our university has a College of Veterinary Medicine. It’s the same challenge we’ve faced since the former School of Veterinary Medicine was brand new. We may be tucked up in little old Logan, but we impact the whole state of Utah and the entire Intermountain West. We're young as a college, so we need to get the word out and get people excited about the important work we’re doing.

My main goal is just to get out into the communities we're serving, whether that's where our current graduates are practicing or wherever we have veterinarians in the state. I want to get to know people, their stories, and what they’re passionate about and find ways to get them involved. Everybody has a part to play in this college being successful.

Finally, what do you want prospective donors to know about giving to the College of Veterinary Medicine?

Aardema: I want people to know there are many ways to give and have a real impact on people and animals. Whether you’re able to make a monthly donation, do something on an annual basis, or even give through your estate, there are many, many vehicles that we can use to help you accomplish something with your money that's meaningful to you.

That may be different for each person, and people may not know how to make that happen. But it’s my job is to help make people aware of those different ways of giving and help them accomplish their goals. •

By: Ethan Brightbill

DR. ALLISON WILLOUGHBY

Although veterinary medicine is about treating animals, it’s still a profession that requires people skills. At Utah State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, Allison Willoughby teaches the next generation of veterinarians how to navigate the human side of their field while treating clients with empathy and compassion. She’s an experienced veterinarian who has treated patients throughout the country, and she still finds time to do agility training and pet therapy with dogs.

What led you to becoming a veterinarian and joining Utah State University?

Dr. Willoughby: I come from a family of animal lovers, so I was never lacking in animal companionship. I was lucky enough to have cats, dogs, and even a horse. I have always admired and respected veterinarians; the amount of information they need to know to be able to function each day is astounding, and several veterinarians were supportive and showed me a lot of kindness. This made me want to be part of the profession.

After graduating from Oregon State University, my husband and I moved around the country. I practiced veterinary medicine in Kentucky, Colorado, Idaho, and Washington. Many of the places I worked were rural mixed practices. In 2006, while practicing in Idaho, I got recruited to be a communication coach for the newly formed clinical communication program at Washington State Uni-

versity, where I worked for several years before Utah State University got funding for the current veterinary program. That is when I came to Logan with my husband, Dirk Vanderwall, to help with the new program.

You now teach the college’s clinical communication skills course. What challenges do students face in that class?

Dr. Willoughby: Students practice interacting with simulated clients in different scenarios. They can repeat parts of the interview using “rewinds” to try different approaches, and then they receive feedback from their peers, a coach, and client. It can be intimidating to interview a client while being watched behind oneway glass and then watch themselves on video.

The skills they learn at USU and next year at Washington State University will allow them to be more accurate, efficient, and supportive when communicating. This translates to improved outcomes and increased satisfaction for both veterinarians and clients.

This class was not available when I was in school. Like a lot of people, I didn’t realize communication skills could even be taught. I like how the skills-based approach respects students’ individuality and gives students the power to come up with specific goals and take control of their learning. I am grateful for the training and enjoy sharing it with others.

Dr. Allison Willoughby, DVM

PET MEMORIAL GIVING

After losing a pet, many people take comfort in the knowledge that they provided the best life possible for their companion. Utah State University’s Pet Memorial Giving Program offers an opportunity to extend your pet’s legacy by funding research, student scholarships, and building infrastructure in the College of Veterinary Medicine. By supporting the next generation of great veterinarians, you ensure that animals in Utah and elsewhere get the medical attention they need to enjoy long and happy lives.

You also have experience in radiology and direct the radiology course and lab in conjunction with Washington State University. How did you develop your interest in the field?

Dr. Willoughby: The course has been a great continuing education experience for me. WSU provides the content and board-certified expertise while I support the students and help with labs by reading images and giving them a general practitioner perspective. It’s great to get back to basics on interpreting images, but having the radiologist’s support allows a higher level of learning.

You enjoy agility training and pet therapy with dogs, including your golden retriever Joey. Are there any similarities between teaching animals and humans? Have you had any professional insights as a result of your work with animals?

Dr. Willoughby: Joey and I volunteer at a hospital as a therapy dog team where he spends time with staff and patients. Some of the same skills we teach in class are valuable here. Asking open-ended questions, listening, acknowledging situations or feelings, and being non-judgmental are all useful skills. It’s very hard not to be empathetic to someone once you listen to their story, and the same is true in veterinary practice. Listening to and acknowledging the client’s perspective or point of view is one of the keys to relating to a client.

There are parallels when learning any new activity. The weekly agility lessons help me learn the concepts, and my coach will push me to think about how I am going to navigate a course and why something went wrong or right. The same goes for our weekly communication skills class. On day one, we ask students what kind of challenges an interaction might present. Being able to analyze what went wrong or right in a client interaction or an agility run is empowering. With coaching, students can watch their video and

You can donate on our secure website at vetmed.usu.edu/give-back, or just scan the QR code.

For more information, contact Nik Aardema, development director for the USU College of Veterinary Medicine, niklas.aardema@usu.edu, 435-797-0767.

start picking out specific, actionable approaches to improve as well as celebrate what is going well.

What changes do you see coming to your role at Utah State with the transition to a four-year college?

Dr. Willoughby: I don’t want to make any assumptions, but I will be involved in designing the communication curriculum and expanding it to a four-year program where students can practice some of the difficult situations they’ll encounter in practice. When the AVMA Council on Education first required communication skills education in veterinary schools, many programs had to carve out time for teaching this class in an already packed curriculum. It’s a great opportunity to have these simulations be a part of the curriculum from the beginning. •

By: Ethan Brightbill Photos by: Bronson Teichert and courtesy of Dr. Willoughby

Anthropologist & Veterinarian

Collaborate to Study Centuries-Old Pouch

Anthropologists sometimes work with animal remains in the course of understanding how human societies lived, but they rarely cross paths with veterinarians, who focus on treating living animals. However, when anthropology graduate student Alexandra Wolberg needed to analyze an unusual Indigenous pouch without damaging it, the College of Veterinary Medicine had a unique opportunity to support one of Utah State University’s anthropologists.

Wolberg began her work with the pouch as part of Assistant Professor Anna Cohen’s archaeometry class, where she was tasked with studying an item from the USU Museum of Anthropology’s Keller Collection. The collection includes numerous artifacts from the Ancestral Puebloans, an Indigenous group from whom modern Puebloan tribes are descended.

The item she selected to analyze was a pouch found in the Cedar Mesa area of San Juan County, Utah, in 1965. Made from leather and decorated with white animal fur, the artifact had a 1-inch cut on its side that revealed a smooth white object inside.

“We didn’t know what was in the pouch,” Wolberg said. “The database said it was a pebble, but we weren’t sure.”

The pouch was believed to date from somewhere between 300 and 1250 A.D., so Wolberg couldn’t just reach into the

bag to find out what was inside. While the artifact was well-preserved, the centuries have left it fragile enough that any attempt to untie its cordage or move the object within could cause permanent damage.

When considering methods of examining the pouch, Wolberg also had to consider the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Assistant Professor Molly Cannon, director and curator of the USU Museum of Anthropology, explained that NAGPRA governs how archaeological collections of Native American descent are managed and cared for — and in some cases, given back to Indigenous communities.

“We're currently going through the Keller collection to identify items that fall under NAGPRA and consult with tribal members to determine if those items should be returned,” Cannon said. “Objects like this pouch could be considered objects of cultural patrimony, or sacred objects, covered under this legislation. Many people think of NAGPRA in terms of human remains, and it certainly protects them, but it applies to other objects as well.”

To prepare for the tribal consultation, Wolberg needed to learn more about the pouch while maintaining its integrity. Cannon recommended using X-rays to identify the object in the bag, and Cohen sug-

gested turning to other USU departments for equipment and expertise. After making some calls, Wolberg was eventually referred Dr. Holly Clement of USU’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

Clement is a clinical associate professor specializing in equine reproduction, lameness and preventative medicine at the Sam Skaggs Family Equine Education Center, and recently appointed director of the university’s equine programs. When Wolberg reached out to the College of Veterinary Medicine for help, Clement had just the tool for the job: a portable X-ray machine about the size and shape of a suitcase.

“Our radiology equipment is regularly used to image rodents, horses and everything in between,” Clement said. “Radiographing this pouch was very straightforward, since unlike most of our patients, it was a still object. We took special care in handling the artifact with gloves and placing a clean drape over the X-ray plate to limit possible contact damage to the pouch.”

Clement, Wolberg, and animal science research technician Sarah Pierce were able to image the mysterious object inside the pouch. The results revealed that it wasn’t a white stone at all. Instead, it appeared to be a seashell that had made its way inland to Utah.

The findings surprised Wolberg, but she learned of a promising explanation for the shell when she spoke to Associate Professor David Byers, another anthropologist at USU. He suggested that it could be from the genus Olivella, a type of sea snail often found in tropical and subtropical seas and oceans.

The question for Wolberg then became how to confirm that theory.

“Looking through the literature,” Wolberg said, “I found that people would shave off the top of the apex of the shell to turn it into a bead or pendant. And from the X-rays, you can see that the pointy part of the shell is shaved down. With that distinctive marker as well as the color matching up, I feel fairly confident saying that it's an Olivella shell.”

Olivella shells can be found in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico, so it’s not clear where this particular shell came from. However, archaeologists have found evidence of extensive trade networks that carried Olivella shells and other goods from modern day California and Mexico, across the Great Basin and Arizona, and to the Four Corners region — including Utah — and beyond.

“This shell would have been considered an exotic item,” Wolberg said. “It's not something that you could simply walk 100 miles and go get. It's something that had to be traded into your cultural area.”

The value of the shell increases the likelihood that the pouch is an important cultural or religious artifact, which may place it under the protection of NAGPRA.

“The results may change our understanding of the function of the pouch, and that's where it becomes sensitive,” Wolberg said. “When it was just a pebble, I think we could have confidently said it was only a leather pouch. But now that there's this exotic shell in it, that kind of changes things a bit. I've been doing so much research, and I'm having a hard time deciding whether I think it may be a sacred object.”

Wolberg’s final report will help tribal representatives answer the question of where the pouch belongs. Additionally, it supports the scientific consensus that the Ancestral Pueblo people of Utah were part of a larger cultural umbrella that covered the Four Corners area. Together with other Indigenous peoples, the Ancestral Pueblo formed networks of economic and cultural exchange that spanned hundreds of miles.

The report helped answer questions about the physical nature of the pouch as well. The revelation of the Olivella shell placed the pouch’s age between 700 and 1500 A.D., during a period of heightened trade in shells in the area. Drawing on her professional experience, Clement was also able to tentatively identify the pouch’s white fur as coming from a rabbit. Tests to confirm that theory would require destroying some of the material,

so Clement’s educated guess is likely to be the last word on the subject.

While the collaboration between Wolberg and the College of Veterinary Medicine marked a first for USU, it was in many ways a normal part of how anthropologists and archaeologists draw on knowledge and techniques from other fields to study humanity’s past.

“Archaeology is interdisciplinary,” Cohen said, “and we use scientific methods to address questions about cultural and human-environmental processes in the past.” She explained that other students in her archaeometry class previously worked with experts in biology, geosciences, natural resource management, and more.

For Wolberg, working with Clement highlighted the collaborative possibilities at Utah State.

“Everyone was so open to helping me,” she said. “I just sent them a quick email asking if they had an X-ray, and they said, ‘Sure, let's do it.’ And now we have these wonderful ladies who are willing to work with us on future projects.”

Clement also came away from the project with a positive experience.

“It was really fun to work with Alexandra,” Clement said. “Her enthusiasm for her work and care for the artifact were refreshing. It was a welcome reminder that serving humans is really at the heart of veterinary medicine.” •

By: Ethan Brightbill

Dr. Alexis Sweat

After graduating in USU's first class of veterinary medicine students in 2016, Dr. Alexis Sweat completed a large animal internship with the clinical veterinary team at USU. She then joined a mixed animal practice in Ava, Missouri, where she enjoyed working with both small animal clientele and a large number of cow-calf producers. Living in the Ozarks was an experience she holds dear, and she met many great people. Lexi has since returned to work at Utah State University, where she discovered a passion for teaching and helping vet students gain valuable clinical skills that will serve them well in private practice. The caseload at the university consists of routine support for beef, dairy, and small ruminant herds along with technical research support. She serves on the curriculum committee for the up-and-coming College of Veterinary Medicine, USU’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, and the planning committee for continuing education for vets.

Her family expanded their cow-calf operation into Southern Idaho, where she lives with her

spare time, she enjoys the outdoors, helping to manage the family cattle, and doing as many

Dr. Jake Van Dyke

After graduating, Dr. Jake Van Dyke opened his own veterinary practice in rural Utah. It started small and obscure in a log building that was previously a wood shop. He took appointments in the lobby and acted as the veterinarian, vet tech, and receptionist until the back of the building was fixed to better accommodate veterinary medicine. Even so, the community embraced him, and he is now known as Dr. Jake. Fremont River Veterinary Clinic is now fully staffed and also offers cremation services on site.

A few years after Fremont River Veterinary Clinic opened up, Dr. Jake decided to purchase an already operating clinic now named Mt. Pleasant Animal Hospital. He enjoys working in both areas and has learned a lot from expanding and taking risks. •

husband Jeremy and their son Monty. In her

fun things with her husband and son as she can. •

New College Administrative Team

Developing a new college and serving current students is an exciting and demanding process and it requires a strong core administrative team. This spring, Interim Dean Dirk Vanderwall announced the appointments of several faculty and staff members who comprise the College of Veterinary Medicine’s new senior administrative team.

SCHOLARSHIPS

• Animal Reference Pathology Scholarship

• Barbara Troisi Aggie Family Scholarship

• Benny and June Benninghoff Scholarship

• Cache Veterinary Practitioners Association Scholarship

• Countryside Veterinary Clinic Scholarship

• Dr. Dirk K. Vanderwall and Dr. Allison R. Willoughby Scholarship

• Dr. Don B. and Joyce C. Olsen Scholarship

• Dr. James P. Gibson and Dr. Paul B. Sanders Aggie Family Scholarship

• Dr. J. Brent and ReNee Mckinnon Scholarship

• Esplin Family Veterinary Scholarship

• Fanwood Foundation Scholarship

• George B. Caine Dairy Scholarship

• Grayson S. Wright Scholarship

• Humphrey-Collins Scholarship

• Jay and Nelda Anderson Memorial Scholarship

• Jennifer Pastori Memorial Scholarship

• John Mathis Scholarship

• Joyce Nation Scholarship

• Kate Theurer Memorial Scholarship

• Michael and Melisa Bishop Servant Leadership Scholarship

• Mountain West Veterinary

• Professor A.A. Heravi Scholarship

• Ross A. and Darlene Smart Scholarship

• Scott and Marla Boyer Humane Scholarship

• Utah Veterinary Medical Association Scholarship

Dr.