EDUCATION

Arizona will open state's first public veterinary school in 2020, after key approval

Rachel Leingang
The Republic | azcentral.com
The University of Arizona is set to open a new College of Veterinary Medicine in 2020, where students will spend their first two years in courses that focused on active-learning experiences instead of lectures.

Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported the number of students attending the College of Veterinary Medicine at Midwestern University. The program has 400  students. 

Arizona soon will have its first public veterinary college. 

The University of Arizona got a key approval Thursday from the accrediting body responsible for veterinary medicine colleges, clearing the way for an expected 2020 opening for students.

The American Veterinary Medical Association gave UA a "letter of reasonable assurance," the first step toward full accreditation. With the letter, UA's veterinary college will start accepting students. It will be provisionally accredited until its first cohort graduates in 2023. During this period, graduates are still "fully eligible" to become licensed to practice veterinary medicine, UA said. 

The college will be the first public veterinary school in Arizona, though Midwestern University, a private college in Glendale, has a veterinary school as well. That program has 400 students, according to its website.

UA has said its program will help address a shortage of veterinarians in Arizona and nationwide, which is more acute in rural areas. Four regions in Arizona are designated as having a veterinary shortage of some kind, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture

UA's program will be three years instead of the traditional four and will operate year-round, UA said. The first two years will be spent in pre-clinical classes focused on "active-learning experiences" instead of lectures, UA said.

The third year will be clinical training rotations at veterinary hospitals, practices and zoos throughout the Southwest, including the Reid Park Zoo in Tucson, UA said. 

"Our goal is that students will have their hands on animals in the first week and all the way through the curriculum," Dean Julie Funk said in a news release. 

College was denied in the past

The road to a new veterinary school has been long for UA.

UA first asked for approval from the American Veterinary Medical Association in 2014, hoping to open the program in fall 2015. 

But in 2016, the university failed to receive a letter of reasonable assurance. At that time, the accrediting body had concerns over the potential program's finances, number of faculty, research programs and clinical resources. UA appealed that decision, but was unsuccessful.

The university reapplied for consideration in 2017. A site visit by the accrediting body happened in May.

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UA hired a consultant who has worked with other universities that had successfully received accreditation from the veterinary association. The college also hired Funk as dean. She started in March. 

In April, the Arizona Board of Regents approved the creation of a separate veterinary college, the UA College of Veterinary Medicine, which was one of the reasons cited for not receiving a letter of reasonable assurance the last time around. 

In August, U.S. Sens. Martha McSally and Kyrsten Sinema sponsored a bill to swap federal forest service land near Camp Verde for land the university owned near Happy Jack. UA already operated the ranch land, but ownership would allow them to add buildings and infrastructure required for the future veterinary program, a news release from the lawmakers said. 

What will the school do? 

The veterinary college's home base will be in Oro Valley, not at the main Tucson campus.

The university received $8 million in 2017 from the state for the future veterinary school. UA is using the money to update a building in Oro Valley, including adding classrooms, labs and offices, UA said. 

The three state universities have about 1,100 pre-vet students, the documents from the regents say. 

Funk previously said about 55 Arizona students per year leave the state to go to veterinary school elsewhere. She estimated the new program would have 100 to 110 students, recruiting both in and out of state. 

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The UA program will be the first new veterinary-medicine program at a public land-grant university in more than 40 years, UA has previously said. 

The college is preparing to accept its first class in fall 2020, and applications to apply are already available, UA spokeswoman Pam Scott said in an email. 

Once the first class of students is accepted, the college will be eligible for provisional accreditation, Scott said. The college then will provide reports to the accrediting body every six months and will have site visits until it can earn full accreditation after the first class graduates, Scott said. 

Reach reporter Rachel Leingang by email at rachel.leingang@gannett.com or by phone at 602-444-8157, or find her on Twitter and Facebook.

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