Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences

Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
Texas A&M Veterinary School
Established	1916
Dean	Eleanor M. Green
Undergraduates	1739
Postgraduates	669
Location	College Station, TX, USA
Affiliations	Texas A&M University
Website	vetmed.tamu.edu/
All enrollment figures are as of 12th class day data of the fall 2009 semester

The Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences is a college of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. Founded in 1916, the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences is one of only 31 colleges of veterinary medicine in the United States and Canada. It is consistently ranked as one of the top 5 vet schools in the country, according to U.S. News. The college offers an undergraduate program in Biomedical Sciences, a professional Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program, and numerous graduate programs relating to veterinary medicine and epidemiology.

Mission statement

Caring about animals and people; curing and preventing animal disease; creating new knowledge, new therapies, and new learning opportunities; and communicating with students, veterinarians, scientists, and the public.

History

The Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) is an institution that represents more than 94 years of growth from a small school of veterinary medicine in 1916 to its present role as a major veterinary educational, medical and research center. Through years of maturation and expansion, an institution emerged that has produced approximately 10 percent of the nation's practicing veterinarians and continues to lead the nation in innovative approaches to veterinary medical education.

The first attempt to teach veterinary science at the Agricultural & Mechanical College (as Texas A&M University was called) was made in the third session of the college in 1878-79 when the college surgeon, D. Port Smythe, M.D., was also listed on the faculty as professor of anatomy, physiology and hygiene. No course is described, however, and no further record is available to indicate that such a course was actually given. It is assumed that the proposed lectures would concern our domestic animals, for this thought is clearly expressed in the catalog of the fourth session. In April 1888, the college received a state appropriation of twenty-five hundred dollars for equipping and operating its Department of Veterinary Science, and on June 6, 1888, Dr. Mark Francis received his formal appointment to the faculty. This marked the real beginning of professional veterinary medicine in Texas; Francis was the first trained veterinarian at the college and was destined to become one of the most distinguished men in United States veterinary medicine.

Chronological history

• 1888 - Texas Agricultural Extension Station established as a division of Texas A. and M. College under the provisions of the Hatch Act.
• 1902 - Erection of the Chemistry and Veterinary Building.
• 1903 - First Veterinary Association in Texas organized at Fort Worth. Dr. Mark Francis was elected president.
• 1908 - Veterinary Hospital constructed.
• 1916 - School of Veterinary Medicine established. Dr. Mark Francis was appointed the first Dean.
• 1920 - First grads (4) to receive DVM degrees from Texas A&M.
• 1929 - Texas A&M Student Chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association organized.
• 1937 - Dr. R.P. Marsteller appointed Dean.
• 1941 - Enrollment limited to 100 new students each year.
• 1947 - Dr. R.C. Dunn appointed Dean.
• 1949 - Veterinary Library Opened.
• 1953 - Dr. W.W. Armistead appointed Dean.
• 1953 - Erection of Veterinary Medical Hospital.
• 1955 - Erection of Veterinary Sciences Building.
• 1957 - Dr. Alvin A. Price appointed Dean.
• 1963 - The designation College of Veterinary Medicine replaces former designation of School of Veterinary Medicine.
• 1963 - First woman admitted to the professional program.
• 1966 - First woman receives DVM degree from Texas A&M.
• 1967 - The Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory is established.
• 1973 - Dr. George C. Shelton appointed Dean.
• 1990 - Dr. John Shadduck appointed Dean.
• 1993 - The Veterinary Research Building and new Large Animal Clinic are erected.
• 1997 - Dr. Robert F. Playter, Jr. appointed as Interim Dean.
• 1998 - Dr. H. Richard Adams appointed Dean.
• 2009 - Dr. Eleanor M. Green appointed Dean.

Education

Doctor of Veterinary Medicine

The highlighting degree of the college is the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM). The DVM program is a four year degree consisting of three years of classroom and laboratory instruction and a fourth year of clinical experience. Each year the college admits 132 students through a highly competitive application process. The professional curriculum allows students to track in small, mixed, or large animal medicine with opportunities for experience in exotics and research.

DVM/MBA

The college offers a joint program with the Mays Business School. Students earn a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree, in addition to their DVM. Students complete all four years of the DVM program with an additional year earning their MBA. The MBA program is typically completed between the 2nd and 3rd years of the DVM program.

B.S. in Biomedical Sciences

A bachelors in biomedical sciences is available for undergraduate students. The program focuses on basic sciences, as well as, advance classes in veterinary medicine, microbiology, and genetics. The curriculum is designed to provide students with the basic prerequisites and background for careers in medicine, veterinary medicine, and biomedical careers.

Graduate programs

Texas A&M Veterinary Research Tower.

The college also provides for M.S. and PhD programs in the areas of :

• Epidemiology
• Veterinary Anatomy
• Veterinary Public Health
• Veterinary Medicine and Surgery
• Veterinary Microbiology
• Veterinary Parasitology
• Veterinary Pathology
• Veterinary Physiology

Research

Texas A&M's College of Veterinary Medicine conducts research in genetics, physiology and pharmacology, animal husbandry, virology, bacteriology, and a number of other disciplines. Also, clinical research is performed by clinicians in the college veterinary hospitals.

The College's research into animal cloning is one of the more publicized ventures. Texas A&M scientists created the first cloned domestic animal, a cat named "CC (cat)", on December 22, 2001. Texas A&M was also the first academic institution to clone each of six different species: cattle, a goat, pigs, a cat, a deer and a horse.

Departments

Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital

The Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital (VMTH) of Texas A&M's College of Veterinary Medicine was established in 1915 when the Texas Legislature approved the creation of a public school of veterinary medicine and provided funds for building of a veterinary teaching hospital.

Today, the VMTH generates approximately $7.5 million annually, or 75% of the facility's operating budget, from clinical services offered to client animals brought in for diagnosis and treatment. Among notable patients of the hospital has been Ch. Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee (a/k/a Stump), the 2009 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show winner (Stump was referred to VMTH in January 2006 with multiple bacterial infections and spent 13 days there).

The Hospital also benefits from state appropriations to the CVM for faculty salaries, utilities, grounds maintenance, building maintenance and other infrastructure maintenance costs.

In recent years, the Hospital has served animals referred from approximately 2,500 veterinarians in 164 of Texas's 254 counties and 31 of the 50 United States.

External links

• Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences Home Page
• Texas A&M University Home Page
• Texas A&M University Map