Charlie, a German Shepherd, enjoys the jets in the underwater treadmill tub after his therapy session Tuesday afternoon at the Veterinary Medical Center. Dogs with joint and muscle problems can use the facility for exercise.
Like many other children with an affinity for all things zoological , Brittany Denison wanted to be a veterinarian from a very young age.
Now a third year graduate student in MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, Denison juggles classes and running a student organization with caring for her cat, dog and fish tank.
“I love my fish tank,” Denison said, laughing. “I grew up around animals and grew up loving animals. If you would have asked me when I was five, I would have said the same thing.”
Next year Denison hopes to become one of thousands of Spartan veterinarians who have left a mark on the College of Veterinary Medicine.
From running horses on high speed treadmills to examining respiratory problems to dissolving urinary stones with lasers and performing open heart surgery on dogs, MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, or the CVM, has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 1910.
Now, 100 years later, the college celebrates its centennial in the company of more than 280 faculty, 430 current students and 6,000 alumni.
“I absolutely love the college,” Denison said. “It’s everything that I had anticipated and more.”
From cultivating crops to cancer care
Since the beginnings of MSU’s land-grant legacy, animal science has been a part of the university’s curriculum, in teaching future farmers to properly care for livestock, said Chris Brown, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Horses, the predominant source of energy on farms and transportation in cities at the time, were a primary focus of the blossoming veterinary science program early on, Brown said.
“As we look at the way things have changed since that time, tractors, cars and buses have replaced horses,” he said. “Demanded services for the equine side went down but agriculture was growing. The importance of the food animal part of it continued to increase.”
As the U.S. moved through the Great Depression, a greater emphasis was placed on small, companion animals in veterinary care.
And MSU took note, Brown said.
“For a long time, we were the only medical school on campus,” Brown said. “Many of the medical departments now on campus have their roots in the College of Veterinary Medicine. We have a long tradition of providing diagnostic services of patient care and of training compassionate veterinarians.”
Dan Grooms, associate professor in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, said the college developed a number of new training opportunities for students in the area of livestock medicine. Pat LeBlanc, director of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, said that at the same time, small animal research has spotlighted clinical trials and seen a lot of growth in cancer care research throughout the years.
LeBlanc said the college’s diagnostic imaging program has expanded throughout time and strides have been made in oncology and emergency critical care.
“We have one of the largest — if not the largest — board of critical care specialists in the country,” he said. “We’re very focused on teaching. Our faculty have been great role models on how to handle cases and professionalism.”
Making a name for itself
The transformation of the college since 1910 has been profound, CVM communications manager Linda Chadderdon said.
“In the first year of the college, there were four faculty members and now there are somewhere around 280,” Chadderdon said. “(The centennial) is a nice opportunity to stop and look around and think, ‘Wow, look at all the land we’ve conquered.’ It’s hard to imagine 100 years from now. Things seem to be developing so quickly it’s hard to even imagine 20 years from now.”
CVM is one of 28 veterinary schools in the country and the only one in Michigan. The college has acquired many new buildings throughout the past 20 years, including the Training Center for Dairy Professionals, a diagnostics lab and the Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
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Brown said the college probably has trained more than 90 percent of the veterinarians in the state.
“We’ve been around a long time,” he said. “We have a long and proud impact going back 100 years.”
Another one of the major changes during the past few years has been the gradual growth of female students enrolled in the college, Brown said.
“When the college was founded it was rare or unknown for a woman to enroll in veterinary school,” he said. “About 20 years ago that began to change and no one knows exactly why. Quite often in recent years about 80 percent of the incoming class has been female. Many women find tremendous job satisfaction in this area and are making strides in the field.”
LeBlanc said the College of Veterinary Medicine is a generational tradition and that sometimes as many as three generations of the same family have graduated as Spartan veterinarians.
“We are extremely proud of the heritage we have,” LeBlanc said. “And our alumni are proud of it too. Veterinarians from Michigan State University have this unbelievable bond.”
Transcending traditional boundaries
Grooms said although most people think of veterinary science as focusing only on animals, one of the biggest changes as the college moves forward is a focus on training future veterinarians in public health and safety.
“It’s been more of a focus over the last 10 years and it’s a huge issue for the public,” he said. “As veterinarians, we have a very significant role in food safety and so we’ve developed master’s degrees in food safety and public health alongside veterinary medicine. The role that veterinarians play in animal health and welfare and human health is very important and, in fact, a growing importance.”
A greater use of information technology and distance learning will become prominent in the college’s curriculum as well, Brown said.
“Ten to 15 years down the road from now, veterinary education will be delivered in different ways,” he said. “We’re already seeing growth in international experiences with a long term program in Southern India and another cooperative program in Uganda. The international piece will continue to be important and I see continued growth in studying food and food trade, disease and disease monitoring.”
Grooms said it’s important that the college’s graduates are exposed to the world and not just the local area.
“When other countries are coming to MSU and the College of Veterinary Medicine and asking us to participate with them, do research with them and train their vets, it speaks volumes of the college,” he said.
Denison said despite the college’s prestige, she feels at home in the CVM community.
“We’re all on the same level coming in,” she said. “We all work very hard and it’s easy to relate to everyone in your class. I hear rumors that med school is competitive but I don’t think the vet school is like that. We all help each other out and everyone is so supportive.”
