Cultural & Diversity Awareness Grant

Cultural & Diversity Awareness Grant
SAVMA's Integrative Communication and Diversity Committee 

Cultural differences between veterinarians and clients, and in fact between veterinarians and other veterinarians, are one of many obstacles that the profession must face. To overcome these differences, each of us must approach all clients with an understanding of different values, beliefs, and personal preferences.

The SAVMA Integrative Communication and Diversity Committee (ICDC) provides financial resources to veterinary students who wish to develop and support activities or experiences that will increase cultural and diversity awareness within their student body.

The event must have occurred in the past 12 months (between September 2017 and September 2018).
Please include in your attachments any posters, pamphlets, or PowerPoint presentations given at the event to attendees. If supplemental information was not provided, please provide a detailed description of how your organization recognized diversity. Applications are due Monday October 15th

Click here to apply

Details: Please include an essay (500 words or less) describing activities, participation, goals, financial need, and intended use of the grant. Individual applicants, please note the purpose of this grant is not to fund individual personal experiences, but rather is meant to support activities or experiences that will increase awareness of diversity within your student body.

Successful examples will be published in the Vet Gazette. If awarded the grant you must follow up with pictures from the event unless previously submitted with the application. In order to qualify for the grant, no fundraising component can come from the activity. Please include in your attachments any posters, pamphlets, or PowerPoint presentations given at the event to attendees. If supplemental information was not provided, please provide a detailed description of how your organization recognized diversity. Examples can include diversity based club lectures, international outreach activities involving other cultures such as “Vets Without Borders”, volunteer based projects promoting differences amongst clientele, and many more. Please note diversity is not limited to ethnicity and can involve factors such as economic status, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, or lifestyle choices. 

Wellness Committee Grants

Financial Wellbeing Grant
SAVMA's Wellness Committee

The SAVMA Wellness committee recognizes that financial wellbeing is an important facet of veterinary student wellness, so the committee is offering funding to SAVMA chapters that wish to provide additional information on financial matters to their student bodies. Realizing that guest speakers may have costly honorariums and travel expenses, the SAVMA Wellness Committee will award up to $2,000 USD annually to one SAVMA chapter demonstrating the need for assistance with a project, lecture, or event(s) that will foster financial wellbeing in their respective college, on an as needed basis. The project, lecture, or event(s) is expected to be accessible to all SAVMA members in the chapter.

Apply here today! 

The committee will accept applications until October 1, 2018. Applicants may apply either to be reimbursed for a project retroactively or proactively. All grant winners are required to submit a 500 word or less program report detailing the success of the event and including pictures, along with all receipts within a month of the event. Fill out completed application form and send additional required materials (receipts, itineraries, etc.) to savmawellness@gmail.com.

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Supporter of Student Wellbeing Award
SAVMA's Wellness Committee 

The SAVMA Wellness Committee would like to recognize and acknowledge an individual faculty or staff members that goes above and beyond to promote student wellbeing at their institutions. This may include, but is not limited to, promoting mental, physical, spiritual and emotional intelligence amongst their students, creation or support of wellness initiatives and programming at their institutions, or serving as a role model that demonstrates the importance of self-care. 

Awarded faculty or staff will receive compensation up to 1500$ for travel to and from SAVMA Symposium 2019 in Athens, Georgia, where they will be recognized and receive an award for their efforts for student wellbeing. 

The nominating student will also receive a 200$ Stipend for their submission efforts.

Apply here today! The committee will accept applications until October 1, 2018. Please direct any questions to savmawellness@gmail.com.  

Environmental Awareness Grant

Environmental Awareness Grant
SAVMA's Public Health and Community Outreach Committee 

The Environmental Awareness Grant is a SAVMA sponsored grant that allows for current SAVMA members to reach out and initiate environmental projects, engage in research, or attend conservation related events/ meetings. This grant can be used to support topics such as: initiating recycling programs at your school, decreasing plastic waste in the veterinary community, support for conservation programs, travel grants for conservation projects local and abroad, and supporting research relating to veterinary conservation. 

A first place grant receives $1000 and two honorable mentions receive $500. Applications and Letter of Recommendation are due November 1, 2018! Check out the details here.

Email savma.phcoc@gmail.com with any questions by using "Environmental Awareness Grant 2018" in the subject line.

AVMA Animal Welfare Assessment Contest

AVMA Animal Welfare Division

Test your animal welfare knowledge by competing in this year’s AWJAC at Colorado State University on November 16-18, 2018!

The AWJAC is a great place to analyze the welfare of various types of animals in different scenarios.  You will determine the welfare of animals in virtually developed and live scenarios and then present your decision orally to the judges.  The AWJAC is also a fun opportunity to meet and mingle with other animal welfare experts!

This year’s species include:
 Dairy Goats
 Green Iguanas
 Egg Laying Ducks
 Live Assessment: Polo Ponies

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER BY OCTOBER 15 Questions? Please contact Dr. Sharon Kuca at 847-285-6713 or skuca@avma.org. We hope you can join us!

International Veterinary Experience Scholarship

As a dual DVM/MPH student, I have never had traditional goals. When people ask, usually in passing, what I want to do with that combination, there is no abrevieated way to explain One Health and the drivers of zoonotic disease transmission or my aspirations to conduct field research that propels policy and education initiatives that can improve the health of animals, humans and the environment. For me, the links between these fields have always seemed intuitive, so it doesn’t seem out of the ordinary to answer “What did you do this summer?” with “Vaccinated chickens in Madagascar”. Oh, right, of course, naturally.

As a dual-degree student, I wanted to find a capstone project that combined veterinary medicine and public health in the same way that I hope to in my future career. I had known about a Harvard-based researcher that works in my niche of interest for several years and although I figured it was a longshot, I reached out and asked if he might have a spot for a veterinary student on his summer team. Much to my surprise, he enthusiastically agreed both to take me along, and to serve as the primary mentor for my capstone research project.

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In Madagascar, many households rely on bushmeat as their primary source of protein. Previous research links decreased bushmeat consumption to increased anemia. However, reliance on bushmeat both increases the potential for zoonotic disease transmission and threatens the nation’s delicate ecosystems. After examining taboos and taste preferences, chicken was identified as a possible alternative protein source. However, Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV), an avian respiratory disease with an incredibly high mortality rate , is endemic to the island, making it difficult to raise chickens. As a response, the Madagascar Health and Environmental Research (MAHERY) program is now in the second year of a vaccine campaign to decrease the incidence of NDV and increase poultry production. Their hope is that increased access to a reliable protein source will decrease bushmeat consumption by Malagasy citizens, decrease zoonotic disease transmission, strengthen agriculture in the region, and protect precarious local ecosystems. In addition, chickens are typically the women’s property and asset, so this campaign also serves as a tool to empower Malagasay women.

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 Receiving the International Veterinary Experience Scholarship has helped me pursue my non-traditional career goals and to have an experience that could never be created in a classroom. Communicating enough to navigate daily life in a foreign country is always a challenge, let alone conveying medical concepts that might not be common knowledge. Still, the local veterinarian spent hours answering my endless questions about veterinary medicine, agriculture and ecology in Madagascar. In a rural area like the one I was in, the close connections between humans, animals, and the environment are more evident than ever. The people depend on the forest for life and they often house their chickens in their own homes. For them, a flock of healthy chickens might be the make the difference between a stunted child and a healthy one.

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Without the financial help of the IVEC scholarship and local grants, none of this would

have been possible and I am immensely grateful that funding opportunities like this exist. When

I think of the career I would like in the future, based around systems-thinking and creative

solutions that benefit multiple populations, I cannot think of a better way to prepare than to

jump right in. The experience that I had in Madagascar reinforces the value of personal

connections and of simply reaching out – stepping out of your comfort zone and asking to have

coffee or a conversation with a role model, or maybe even asking if they have a place on their

team, their answer might surprise you.

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Check out the SAVMANews for currently open SAVMA scholarships and opportunities.