This year, the United States celebrates the 150th anniversary of
the establishment of the land-grant university system. The focus of
the festivities will be the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival held June
24 through July 6 on the National Mall in Washington, DC, with more
than 1 million visitors expected to attend.
Mississippi State University was chosen as one of 18 land-grant universities to provide educational exhibits on the Mall, and the MSU-CVM Mobile Shelter Surgery Unit will be featured as one of three MSU exhibits. The College’s shelter medicine program delivers spay/ neuter services to 15 shelters across north Mississippi and, in so doing, provides unparalleled surgery education to our third- and fourth-year students. Furthermore, the shelter medicine program exemplifies the land-grant mission of taking the university to the people. In this case, the education of students is linked with service to the community, and a sense of obligation to community is instilled in our graduates.
For 150 years, land-grant universities have served as positive agents of change for our nation. The result has been a higher standard of living, not just for people engaged in agriculture or living in rural communities, but for all Americans. One responsibility we have in a modern land-grant institution is continuing this legacy of making advancements in teaching, research, and community service. With this in mind, our faculty worked to create a strategic plan that outlines what we, as a College, hope to accomplish during the next 5 years. The plan’s mission statement indicates that we are committed to improving the health of animals and people, as well as contributing to economic development in Mississippi and the region, by providing quality education, advancing research, and serving the community through excellent diagnostics, clinical care, and shared learning.
The plan has five strategic goals: 1) Foster teaching and learning; 2) Promote research and creativity; 3) Expand outreach and engagement; 4) Encourage globalization; and 5) Enhance institutional culture and environment. After July 1, the strategic plan will be available on the College’s website (www.cvm.msstate.edu). While faculty groups were developing the plan, we were implementing some of its good ideas. In the remainder of this column, I would like to highlight some of the progress that has been made.
For our teaching programs, faculty pledged to provide the best learning experiences for our students, whether in the veterinary medical technology program (VMTP), professional DVM program, or graduate programs. In late April, we learned that our VMTP had been granted accreditation. When the inaugural class of 11 VMTP students graduated in April, we were able to report to President Keenum that all had accepted positions in the field. DVM graduates from the Class of 2012 are entering areas of acknowledged national need, with 12 in rural mixed-animal practices, two in the military, and two in public health positions.
One of our goals is to have more research-intensive faculty who address, in the best land-grant tradition, those problems that directly affect our constituents, and for which our CVM is uniquely qualified. New faculty are focusing on two College and university priorities that relate directly to “One Health” needs in Mississippi and the United States: infectious diseases and health disparities.
We believe that our College has much strength and, in fact, is positioned to be a leader in rural veterinary medicine. Therefore, we are actively recruiting a faculty member with expertise in applied research in beef cattle health to link closely with others in outreach and engagement. The goal for this new professor is to lead a multidisciplinary team that will improve the health—and thus the value—of cattle produced on Mississippi’s more than 17,000 cattle farms, again seeking to fulfill the land-grant mission.
We seek to globalize CVM for faculty and students, and to accomplish this in both developed and developing countries. Currently, Dr. Carla Huston is working with the USDA for 3 months on the control of foot-and-mouth disease in Vietnam, and Dr. Skip Jack is teaching fish health in Nigeria. During their international assignments, both faculty members will gain valuable experiences that will have direct applications in their teaching programs when they return to MSU.
Eleven veterinary students are studying abroad this summer in South Africa and Costa Rica, learning about exotic diseases as well as international veterinary concerns. Later this summer, our core professional development course for second-year students will focus entirely on international veterinary medicine opportunities and programs.
To enhance the institutional culture and environment, we are working on several fronts to encourage and support holistic development and well-being of our human capital. In short, we seek to make MSU-CVM a “destination location” for faculty, staff, and students. Please read our plan and feel free to give me a call if you have questions or suggestions. This plan is designed to be a working document, and we welcome input.
Dr. Kent H. Hoblet
Dean & Professor
Contact Information:
CVM Office of the Dean
PO Box 6100
Mississippi State, MS 39762
Phone: (662) 325-1131
Fax: (662) 325-1498
Email: hoblet@cvm.msstate.edu
