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.