When it opens for business next year in Glendale, the Midwestern University’s College of Veterinary Medicine will be the first and only school in Arizona to offer a DVM degree. Now, Arizonans interested in becoming full-fledged veterinarians must look outside the state. That’s because Arizona is one of 24 states without an accredited veterinary college. Pre-veterinary students can enroll in undergraduate programs at the University of Arizona or at Arizona State University but that’s about as far as it goes. But that will all change August 2014 when the Midwestern University’s College of Veterinary Science admits its first class of 100. The new veterinary college received a "letter of reasonable assurance” on May 31 from the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Council on Education, the Schaumburg, Ill.-based accreditation body for U.S. and international veterinary schools and programs recognized in the U.S. The thumbs up means that the college’s plans meet with AVMA approval and recruitment of veterinary students for the inaugural 2014 class can commence. The letter of confidence is an indication that the College of Veterinary Medicine is on its way to meeting the 11 standards required by the AVMA to become accredited: Midwestern officially announced plans for the veterinary college on March 7, 2012. The Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education issued a certificate of authority for Midwestern to offer the DVM degree in October 2012. The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools Higher Learning Commission approved Midwestern’s request to offer DVM degrees on May 21. Joins the Washington, D.C.-based Association of Ameerican Veterinary Medical Colleges on June 11 and is the 29th U.S. college or school to do so. "The entire team, led by Brian Sidaway, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, has done an excellent job in developing the plans for this new college,” said Kathleen Goeppinger, Ph.D., president and CEO of Midwestern University. "The AVMA has extremely high standards as an accrediting group, and we are pleased that our plan has met their requirements,” she added. The new veterinary college is eligible for provisional accreditation when it opens in 2014. Since first announcing its plans, Midwestern has committed more than $100 million toward the new veterinary college’s academic building, large animal teaching facility and a small animal clinic. The college’s newest hire is Rolf Larsen, DVM, Ph.D., Dipl. ACT, who was named s as a professor and associate dean of academic affairs on June 7. The AVMA has given full accreditation to three schools in 2013, bringing the total to 28 nationwide, including the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, Knoxville, Tenn.; Western University of Health Sciences College of Veterinary Medicine, Pomona, Calif.; Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine, Baton Rouge, La. Midwestern University’s College of Veterinary Medicine will be eligible for full accreditation in 2018.
