On Nov. 5, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) and the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC)  announced the creation of the Task Force on Antibiotic Resistance in Production Agriculture. The goal of the task force is to help advise the federal government on a research agenda and also help publicly disseminate information on the use of antibiotics in production agriculture. Learn more.

There was good news tempered with some not-so-good news shared during a major Economic Summit meeting presented by the AVMA in Chicago on October 28. The excess workforce capacity of 12.5 percent identified in the U.S. Veterinary Workforce Study released by the AVMA in April 2013 has dropped to less than 10 percent, unemployment is low, and job growth in the veterinary sector is expected to trend upward through 2025. However, the long-term implications of the gap between educational costs and earning power in some sectors of clinical practice is a serious concern. Learn more.

Click on above image for details on the distribution of students among U.S., foreign and Canadian schools.

Data from the 2015 VMCAS application cycle shows a total of 6,681 students have applied for admission to AAVMC member institutions participating in the VMCAS program. Compared to the 6,744 students who sought admission last year, it represents a decrease of less than one percent. Compared to 2009 data, there have been changes in the distribution of applicants for U.S., Canadian, and international schools. Applications to U.S. schools have decreased from 94.8 percent of the VMCAS pool to 91 percent. Applications to foreign schools have increased from 4.3 percent to 8.4 percent. Applications to Canadian schools have decreased from 1.5 percent of the pool to .09 percent. Learn more.

Zoetis and the AAVMC invite second- and third-year veterinary students to apply for the 2015 Zoetis Veterinary Student Scholarship Program. In 2014, Zoetis awarded scholarships to 452 veterinary students. Each scholarship is $2,000 and interested students can apply for scholarships at VetVance�, a free online resource for students and recent graduates, through Nov. 30. Learn more.

The Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University has joined the Veterinary Medical College Application Service (VMCAS), an application service administered by the AAVMC.With the addition of Tufts, the number of schools using VMCAS now includes 28 of the 30 U.S. schools, two schools in Canada, two in Scotland, and one school each in England, Ireland, Australia, Grenada, St. Kitts, and New Zealand. Learn more.

Brainstorming at a symposium workshop. (Photo: Don Preisler/UC Davis)

Nearly 100 veterinarians from veterinary medical associations and 29 schools and colleges of veterinary medicine attended the 2014 Primary Care Veterinary Educators' (PCVE) World Symposium held at UC Davis in October. The annual symposium offers companion animal primary care educators the opportunity to learn from each other and benefit from presentations and networking opportunities that are designed to help them generate new ideas and develop more effective educational strategies. Merial provided funding for the meeting. Learn more.

More than 70 educators and staff from 32 schools and colleges of veterinary medicine gathered to discuss health and wellness issues related to veterinary students and the profession at Health and Wellness Summit 2.0, held at The Ohio State University (OSU) in October. The AAVMC convened the summit--which Zoetis sponsored and OSU hosted--as a response to a growing body of evidence that veterinary students are experiencing increased levels of stress, anxiety, and depression and that these factors may impact productivity, longevity, and professional enjoyment. Learn more.

The 2015 AAVMC Annual Conference and Iverson Bell Symposium, "Recruiting and Selecting for the Future of Veterinary Medicine," is now accepting registrations.The conference, focusing on recruitment, admissions and diversity, is designed to help schools and colleges of veterinary medicine keep informed regarding the latest societal changes, how they're affecting recruitment, and how to develop strategies to adapt to both short-term and long-term admissions and recruitment challenges.This will include the pressing challenge of recruiting students from historically under-represented populations and also the new minorities in academic veterinary medicine: males and rural students. This year's conference will take place in Washington, D.C. Register now.

Dr. Don Smith

One of the profession's most prolific and respected historians will author a book on the history of the AAVMC as part of the AAVMC's upcoming 50th Anniversary celebration. Donald F. Smith, Austin O. Hooey Dean of Veterinary Medicine, emeritus, and professor of surgery at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, has agreed to work with the AAVMC on the project. Smith has authored a number of articles on the history of academic veterinary medicine in the Journal of Veterinary Medical Education (JVME). His celebrated "Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine" blog is a colorful exploration of the history of the profession, veterinary education, and some of the forces that have shaped their development and evolution. Learn more.

Academic Veterinary Medicine in the News

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