07/30/2024

JONESBORO - Work towards the future College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) at Arkansas State University is well underway.

Earlier this month, the American Veterinary Medical Association's (AVMA) Council on Education paid a visit to campus to perform a consultative visit.
Dr. Heidi Banse, dean of the CVM, recently arrived at her post on campus.
"AVMA COE site visitors met with A-State personnel to gather perspectives on facilities, policies and procedures, and personnel to support the College of Veterinary Medicine. This included a review of existing personnel and facilities, as well as future plans," said Banse.

Now that the first site visit has been completed, Banse said they can continue to move forward with plans for the college.
"We appreciated the site visitor team's thoughtful queries and careful review of the current state of and future plans for A-State's CVM. Next steps are for the COE to review the findings from the site visit and determine the readiness of our CVM for a comprehensive site visit," she added.

Banse is completing her first week at A-State and is eager to build the team for the CVM.
"We are looking forward to recruiting additional members of our leadership team, including an associate dean for professional education and associate dean for student programs and admissions," she continued.
"We are also working on developing policies, procedures and educational elements for the CVM and continuing to work with our clinical affiliate practices to ensure their readiness for our clinical students."
The Arkansas Board of Higher Education previously approved A-State's plan to establish the College of Veterinary Medicine, which includes its outline for the school and the additional faculty required for instruction.
The staff currently consists of Banse, as well as Dr. Len Frey, senior advisor for strategic initiatives and senior associate dean, Dr. Glen Hoffsis who serves as founding dean, Dr. John Weale, associate dean for clinical relations and accreditation, and Dr. Jim Lloyd, a senior consultant for Animal Health Economics, LLC, who works remotely.

Currently, the CVM team is working out of Ellis House, an A-State property located on Nettleton Ave., named after Dean B. Ellis, who, alongside his family, donated the property to the university.
"We are also working on plans for a CVM building on the main campus, which will house faculty offices, flexible classrooms, and laboratory spaces designed for hands-on instruction in anatomy, clinical and surgical skills," Banse added. "We are working with the College of Agriculture to renovate existing animal science facilities for large animal clinical skills instruction."
Not only is the addition of a new college on the A-State campus an added benefit to current and future students, Banse said it is also important to the regional community.

"We are so excited to continue to progress in development of our Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program. This program provides an opportunity for aspiring Arkansas veterinarians to stay in state for their training. It also helps ensure sufficient veterinary graduates in the area to fill regional workforce needs," continued Banse.

Students walk across the campus of Arkansas State University.