FROM THE DEAN
steadfast&strong Faculty, staff and students take action to overcome pandemic challenges By Dean Bonnie Rush In the months since the last issue of Wildcat Veterinarian, much has happened. Some progress was planned. However, responding to the pandemic was not part of the plan. Despite the challenges, the College of Veterinary Medicine persevered and remained fully operational in educational, research, and service missions.
Focusing on the educational mission K-State was the last veterinary college in North America to remove senior students from clinical training and the first to return students into the teaching hospital, several weeks later. Senior externships and shelter medicine experiences paused only briefly. All DVM laboratory courses (e.g. anatomy, parasitology, junior surgery) were delivered face-to-face to ensure students had every opportunity to participate in the same hands-on experiences they would have in a typical year. Our faculty committed double- and triple-time to laboratory instruction to accommodate occupancy restrictions. Newly established COVID classroom capacities permitted approximately one-third to one-half of the normal numbers of students to attend each lecture in person. Lectures were also delivered via livestream and archived for repeated viewing. The 2020 admissions cycle was entirely virtual and campus visits were limited. In response, as told in the story on Page 12, Dr. Callie Rost created approximately two hours of recruitment videos and virtual college tours. The applicant pool was very strong; candidate numbers increased from 996 in 2019 to 1348 in 2020. Candidate feedback indicated their virtual experience with K-State exceeded their expectations in every way you would expect – engaging, informative and supportive. DVM tuition has been frozen for the fifth consecutive year, and mean educational debt for Kansas residents dropped from 6 | wildcatveterinarian
$128K (2019) to $122,543 (2020) to $101,839 (2021). To address DVM workforce needs within the state, six additional Kansas residents were admitted into the first-year class for the fifth consecutive year, compared to traditional years. We recognize it is difficult to hire associate veterinarians at this time. Two virtual job fairs were held for students to meet with prospective employers, and more than 90 practitioners participated. Day one employment for the graduating class of 2021 was 98%! The NAVLE pass rate was 97% for the class of 2021 (national average pass rate is 94%).
Maintaining service and outreach As featured on Page 36, the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory remained at full-service throughout the pandemic and went beyond its traditional service mission to support the human public health response to COVID-19. The Veterinary Health Center could not access PPE in late March and April 2020 and was thus limited to emergency/ urgent care. However, the VHC has remained at full service since early May 2020. A series of curbside/concierge drop-off and discharge protocols were implemented in order to keep clients, clinicians, staff and students safe. With the cancellation of major annual events, CVM faculty improvised to provide virtual support for the Kansas State Fair Birthing Center and the American Royal educational exhibit with online chats and videos on food animal, equine, exotic animal, and small animal services in the Veterinary Health Center. Read more about these virtual efforts in the story on Page 12.
Advancing the research mission Last year was the second most successful grantsmanship effort in the history of the college at $17,837,791. On Page 16, Drs. Jürgen Richt and Philip Hardwidge were
