According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, Arizona already has one veterinary college at Midwestern University in Glendale, which received a letter of accreditation from the AVMA Council on Education in mid-2013. On Thursday, the Arizona Board of Regents approved a recommendation to implement a second veterinary medicine degree program at the University of Arizona.
As the AZDI reported earlier this year, the Kemper and Ethel Marley Foundation donated a gift of $9 million in support of the proposed program.
The UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has been actively developing the program.
The program will run year-round so students complete their degrees faster. In what is called a distributive model, the final two semesters will be spent working in private practices, and governmental agencies like the Pima County Animal Care department.
Currently, Arizona students interested in becoming veterinarians compete for veterinary school admissions at out-of-state institutions, many of which favor resident students. For example, 1,600 applicants competed for 138 seats at Colorado State University. Only 55 of these seats are open to applicants outside Colorado, and just a handful of these are filled by Arizonans.