Education and Professional Development Spring Grant

Are you interested in an aspect of veterinary medicine not addressed in your school’s veterinary curriculum?Are you looking for funding for a unique wet lab or lecture topic?

The Education and Professional Development Committee from SAVMA is offering a grant to veterinary student organizations to provide funding for wet labs or lectures supplementing their college’s curriculum.  Our vision for this grant is for student organizations or clubs to design either a lecture and/or wet lab for a topic to which students would not otherwise be exposed. It's time to get creative and finally host that amazing topic you've been thinking of!

Three $250 dollar grants will be offered, and winners will be chosen by the committee by the end of March. All submissions can be for an upcoming event or for reimbursement of a recently past event, depending on the date of the proposed event. 

If you're thinking about applying, check with your SAVMA delegate for an application. Don't forget to apply by March 1st! Questions can be directed to savma.epdc@gmail.com

Education and Professional Development Fall Grant

Interested in an aspect of veterinary medicine not addressed in your school’s veterinary curriculum? Looking for funding for a unique wet lab or lecture topic?

The Education and Professional Development Committee is offering a grant to veterinary student organizations to provide funding for wet labs or lectures supplementing their college’s curriculum.  Our vision for this grant is for student organizations or clubs to design either a lecture and/or wet lab for a topic to which students would not otherwise be exposed.  Three $250 dollar grants will be offered, and winners will be chosen by the committee in mid November.

All submissions can be for an upcoming event or for reimbursement of the event, depending on the date of the proposed event. Applications must be submitted by a student who is a member in good standing with SAVMA.

Please stay within the word limits that are imposed and provide all required information.  Events must not provide alcohol at the events and funding must not be used for gifts to speakers.  Applications that fail to stay within these limits or to provide all required information will NOT be considered for funding at this time. Grant Application due by: Monday, November 1^st, 2010.

The application should include: Student Group Name, Veterinary School, Student Contact Name, Contact E-mail Address, Name of Event, Date of Event, Estimated Number of Students Attending, Description of Event (Limit 150 words), Reason for Request (Please specifically state how this topic is not addressed in your current curriculum, Limit 100 words), Itemized Budget for Event (Please disclose funding already received) 

Winners of this grant must acknowledge SAVMA and the Education and Licensure Grant at the event, in addition to submitting a quick statement for The Vet Gazette about the event and how the grant assisted your event.

Tracking in Vet School (another viewpoint)

By: Stephanie Silberstang

Cornell University

Tracking vs. non-tracking in veterinary school was an important part of my decision to apply to the schools that I did. I ended up choosing a school that did not include tracking because I was unsure of my specific career goals and path. I have worked with a large animal veterinarian, bovine embryo transfer veterinarian, small animal veterinarian and in the Reptile House at the Bronx Zoo.

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Tracking in Vet School

By: Justin Graham

University of Georgia, Class of 2013

All creatures great and small – the classic James Herriot book has exemplified what has been the traditional view of a veterinarian, readily capable of treating all animals from the barnyard to the household.  Over the years as the general public has clung to this romantic idea, the veterinary profession itself has been gradually diverging and become increasingly specialized.  This divergence has raised the debate over whether vet schools should be focusing on the traditional broad-based, comparative medicine curriculum or on a more specialized, tracking curriculum.  Changing times call for changing paradigms and it is time for vet schools to begin embracing the idea of a specialized profession with a career tracking curriculum.

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The NAVMEC, is it an acronym worth remembering?

By: Matthew Inniss

Louisiana State University, Class of 2014

We all know the day to day trials of being a veterinary student. Sometimes we think to ourselves that it would be nice if someone could identify with the “old wooden roller coaster ride,” known as veterinary school, in an effort to make it a little less “bumpy.” Lucky, for all the students with this thought on their mind, instead of what’s on the next neurology test, their wish has been granted.

The North American Veterinary Medical Education Consortium was formed for just this purpose. Of course, the purpose is more properly outlined beyond the point of vision of an “old wooden roller coaster ride,” but the intent is the same. The NAVMEC was formed in 2009 under the umbrella organization known as the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC). The goal of the NAVMEC is to review current methods of veterinary education in order to identify points of improvement, for the future education of veterinarians.  The group was formed by invitation. Members of the not only the veterinary profession but the medical and dental profession were asked to participate in the consortium. There are two types of membership or participation that recognized by the NAVMEC. Co-Sponsors are designated by their financial contribution to the efforts of the consortium. There are also those members that are not financial contributors, but still have desires to aid in the efforts of the consortium.

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