The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board on Wednesday (Dec. 11) adopted the recommendation of the Committee on Academic and Workforce Success to approve the request from Texas Tech for a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree program with a major in veterinary medicine. The adoption advances Texas Tech's initiative to open the School of Veterinary Medicine on the campus of the Texas Tech University Health Science Center in Amarillo.

"Today's action by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is historic," said Michael Galyean, Texas Tech Provost and former dean of Tech's College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. "It is a critical milestone for our veterinary medicine program, and just as importantly, it expands access to affordable, world-class education for Texans and enables Texas to train more of its needed workforce. We're so thankful to the board for its actions today."

The School of Veterinary Medicine will open in the fall of 2021 and will enroll an initial pioneering class of approximately 60 students. The program also is designed to support graduate students involved in advanced research, offering an innovative, world-class curriculum to address the critical shortage of veterinarians, which is threatening small, regional and agricultural communities throughout Texas.

Ground was broken in September after state leaders recognized the need for a new school of veterinary medicine. In June, Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law the state budget for the next two years, which appropriated $17.35 million for the School of Veterinary Medicine in Amarillo that will go toward operational needs to get the school up and running. Donors and civic leaders have pledged more than $90 million toward infrastructure, construction and scholarships for the School of Veterinary Medicine.

Located on the north side of the TTUHSC in Amarillo, the academic building will be named the School of Veterinary Medicine Amarillo Campus. In addition, a separate set of facilities that will serve as the large-animal focal point of the school will be named the School of Veterinary Medicine Mariposa Station. Together, these facilities support the school's instruction, research and outreach mission.

The two-story academic building will consist of two learning wings. The east wing will consist of three large classrooms, breakout rooms and office suites on the first floor, with leadership and faculty offices and graduate study and work rooms on the second floor. The west wing will consist of laboratory and research spaces, as well as locker rooms, surgery suites, housing for small animals and support rooms for anatomy and pathology instruction. The west wing also will include a lobby where veterinary partners can drop off animals for examination and surgical procedures.

CONTACT: William Brown, Dean, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2808 or william.f.brown@ttu.edu

1211NM19 / For the full-text version of George Watson's story in Texas Tech Today, please click here