This is how we’ve carried ourselves through the pandemic. During this time, many of us approached a breaking point time and again. Yet, our students are learning, our faculty push forward with research, our health teams still support and treat our patients, and our diagnosticians and scientists continue to protect animal, public, and environmental health and conduct basic research.
It’s overwhelming to try—and fail—to find words truly representative of the sacrifice and progress our community has made for the better part of the past two years. But I’ll do my best.
Our Spartan veterinary community of students, faculty, staff, alumni, clients, and friends stretches across the globe. Despite this distance (and social distance), we are intrinsically linked by our mission: to learn more about veterinary medicine and how it can benefit our world; discover novel and innovative biomedical, agricultural, and environmental solutions; heal all species of animals; and protect the individual and collective health of animals, people, and the environment.
Our mission defines us, the outcomes of which are only possible thanks to our people. In this issue of Perspectives Magazine, we’ve captured examples of our mission in action from the vantage points of various community members. From developing COVID-19 vaccines and enhancing food safety for pets, to caring for elephants in Thailand, our alumni are doing it all. On campus, we continue to welcome experts who enhance education at our College; advocate for our community’s diversity, equity, and inclusion; and take Spartan veterinary medicine and research to the next level.
Our faculty and staff strive to ensure that each of our Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary Nursing, and graduate students experience a top-rate education and gain important soft skills to best transition into future careers and studies. Our students learn and encounter more than lectures and clinics alone could ever provide. Enrichment opportunities at the College offer something exciting and beneficial to everyone, whether it be through a confidence-instilling externship in Las Vegas; participation in our student groups and committees; or superior mentorship throughout the research experience.
I can’t share about enrichment without acknowledging our College’s dear friends who provide critical support in all facets of our community and work. This year, some of the most important gifts were given to our Veterinary Nursing students and clinical teams. Our friends who established the Vulcan Scholarships, which help ease the cost of tuition and fees for our future veterinarians, have taken their generosity one step further. Now, they’ve created new scholarships to fund research and other educational enhancement experiences for outstanding Veterinary Nursing students.
In addition to scholarships that help our students graduate with less debt and more focus on their futures, our friends support initiatives that improve the resources we need to do our work. These generous donors provide critical support for the care of our clinical patients. That’s often because they experience that care secondhand as clients of our Veterinary Medical Center. Nancy Brookins, a long-time supporter of our College and Veterinary Medicine students, has benefitted from the care we’ve provided throughout the years to her toy poodles. Nancy has turned her gratitude into a gift that will keep on giving to the students, staff, and faculty who make a difference in her life, and will continue to make the difference for others.
If the pandemic has taught all of us anything, it’s the value of people. That’s why this issue of Perspectives is all about our own, the Spartans we and others have relied on before and during the pandemic, and will continue to rely on long after it’s over. Everyone has worked so hard, and that work continues as we share these stories of success and prepare for what comes next.
Together, we will.
