WSU Veterinary College Gains Accreditation of Utah Partner

Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine has received approval of its educational agreement with Utah State University from the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Council on Education, the profession’s official accrediting body.

“Although we were confident that the quality of program we put in place with our partners at Utah State was outstanding, it is very rewarding to have official validation from the Council on Education,” said Bryan Slinker, dean of the college.

The college has formalized four-year partnerships with Utah and Montana to create an expanded regional veterinary educational program under the states’ first-letter acronym, WIMU (pronounced WE-moo).

Utah State students spend two years there, then two at WSU Pullman. This 2+2 program was a major change to WSU’s fully accredited program and was the impetus for a Council on Education site visit to ensure continuing quality of the doctor of veterinary medicine program.

The council will conduct an equivalent visit to the Montana State University program in the spring.

WSU has some 417 veterinary students enrolled across the four-year professional curriculum at Pullman; Logan, Utah; and Bozeman, Montana. The partnerships serve veterinary practice sectors in the Northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest regions.

There is especially high student applicant interest in practice focused on livestock. Collectively, the students pay almost $10 million annually in tuition and fees.

The Utah State partnership includes 20 Utah resident and 10 non-resident students. In a similar 1+3 program, 10 Montana resident students spend their first year at Montana State University and the last three years in Pullman. Learn more at http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/ProspectiveStudents/Curriculum/DVM.aspx.

At full capacity, Pullman will be home to 460 veterinary students at any given time by fiscal year 2016. The contribution of those students to their education in Pullman will top $11.2 million in tuition, with additional tuition paid to USU and MSU by students enrolled on those campuses.