Ithaca
We are dedicated to the creation, dissemination, and implementation of scientific knowledge to improve the health and well-being of animals and people. As a New York land-grant college, we achieve regional and global impact through: Education: Employing innovative, evidence-based, learner-centered education to prepare students, veterinarians, and scientists to assume vital roles in clinical, population, and diagnostic veterinary medicine; scientific inquiry; local and global public health; and public policy Discovery: Producing a continuous stream of scientific breakthroughs at the interface of basic research and clinical application Care: Examining and anticipating the rapidly evolving needs of New York and global veterinary healthcare with the redefinition and promotion of excellent multi-disciplinary clinical and diagnostic services and exemplary animal care. The Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine has been working for over 150 years to keep animals and people healthy. The history of teaching veterinary medicine at Cornell predates the establishment of the College in 1894. Shortly after the university was founded in 1865, Ezra Cornell insisted that a chair of veterinary medicine be instituted. He instructed Andrew D. White, the university's first president, to seek the best-qualified person to teach courses in veterinary medicine and surgery. President White secured the services of Dr. James Law, a distinguished veterinarian and teacher and graduate of the Edinburgh Veterinary College in Scotland. Law brought with him a commitment to rigorous training for veterinarians. At Law's urging, Cornell set much higher requirements for a veterinary degree than any other institution at that time. In 1871, the University Faculty passed a resolution requiring four years of study for a Bachelor of Veterinary Science (BVS) degree and an additional two years for a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM), a degree previously unavailable from any institution in the United States. Kimball HorseWhen the university opened in the fall of 1868, Dr. Law's first classes included students who were working toward degrees in agriculture and the biological sciences, and a few "special students" who were pursuing veterinary degrees. In 1871 Myron Kasson earned the University's first BVS degree. He was followed very quickly, in 1872, by Daniel Salmon. Four years later Salmon earned the first DVM degree in the country. Salmon went on to serve as the founding chief of the US Bureau of Animal Industry and is best known today for identifying the infectious pathogen Salmonella and pioneering the fight against contagious diseases. For the next twenty years, James Law lobbied state legislators for funding to expand Cornell's veterinary program into a genuine college. A gauntlet of letters, visits, speeches, and editorials finally paid off in the spring of 1894. On March 21, New York State Governor Roswell P. Flower signed the legislation that chartered the veterinary college as the first state-supported college at Cornell University. Flower himself had grown up on a farm and knew the needs of livestock owners and the dangers to human health from diseased animals and their products. Thus, in recognition of the importance of veterinary medicine to the health of the state's citizens, the New York State Veterinary College was established at Cornell.
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