A New School of Veterinary Medicine.
For Arkansas.
Our Vision
Veterinary care is essential to a thriving Arkansas. Currently, our state ranks 49th in the United States for available veterinary professionals. There are no veterinarians located in ten percent of counties in Arkansas. This shortage has a daily impact on companion animal owners, livestock and poultry operations, and veterinarians having to compensate for the existing shortage. Arkansas students must leave the state to pursue their Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degrees. And yet there are no veterinary schools in our state to meet these needs. It’s time to solve this challenge for Arkansas.
Lyon College has launched a historic effort to build our state’s first School of Veterinary Medicine. This school, on a new campus in Cabot, Arkansas, will train and graduate veterinarians ready and able to serve the veterinary healthcare needs of Arkansas into the future, advance public health for Arkansans, create more small businesses, and contribute to community and state economy.
This is a rare opportunity to make a vital, enduring investment in the health of our animals and our people, the career pathways of Arkansas students, and the vitality of our state.
We invite you to take a closer look at our plans. Learn more about the need for veterinary education in Arkansas, and why now is the right time to realize this bold vision.
Our goals are clear. Momentum is building. Join us—early gifts from farsighted donors like you make this vision possible.
Visit the School of Veterinary Medicine website.
The School of Veterinary Medicine
The future of animal health in Arkansas starts here.
Lyon students will graduate prepared to meet the high demand for animal care.
In building a new school, there are three key phases. First, the development of goals and curricula. Then the plan for accreditation. Finally, the infrastructure: the physical space and the expert faculty who will support a top-quality education. Good news: all three are in place or firmly underway.
Our plan is for students to learn through a wealth of real-world experiences. The School of Veterinary Medicine will use a model of clinical training in partnership with veterinary clinics throughout Arkansas and across the country.
From day one students will be immersed in a technology enhanced curriculum designed to improve understanding and retention along with active engagement in the learning process with their peers. Over the three-year program students will be immersed in a wealth of clinical rotations.
Our distinctive model will offer an accelerated three-year, year-round program that produces practice-ready and future ready graduates with the knowledge and skills to succeed. Compressing the time to graduate allows graduates to start earning income earlier.
Animal and human health are deeply interdependent. This is where Lyon’s legacy of liberal arts education is so relevant. Our rigorous academic programs, grounded in a liberal arts philosophy and community-based learning, produce outstanding graduates. This legacy combined with the planned rich collaborations with human healthcare and research entities will certainly produce veterinarians prepared to advance animal and human health in Arkansas.
With several already-committed partners—ranging from large, active veterinary practices to the City of Cabot Animal Support Services — Lyon College will provide students unmatched practical experiences and real-world rotations. Unique industry partnerships are being forged as part of this vision. Additionally, students will be able to build on their educational foundation with seemingly unlimited options to customize a path toward their desired career through personalized electives. Our goal is for Lyon College’s School of Veterinary Medicine to become nationally recognized for innovations in veterinary education and hands-on learning.
The School of Veterinary Medicine is just one component of the Lyon College Institute of Health Sciences, which at launch will also include a new School of Dental Medicine in Little Rock and an Allied Health Center on Lyon’s Batesville campus.
The Cabot Campus
The next generation of veterinary professionals will get their start here.
Our vision combines efforts underway to develop a campus in the vibrant Little Rock suburb of Cabot, Arkansas, a growing community with outstanding schools and amenities. The state-of-the-art Veterinary Learning Center of the Lyon College School of Veterinary Medicine will be co-located with the state-of-the-art Cabot Animal Support Services facilities.
The new campus will take shape on the outskirts of Cabot and along Highway 67 with easy access to downtown Little Rock, just 20 minutes down the road. This growing, mixed-use development, anchored by the Lyon College School of Veterinary Medicine, includes a newly built community center and the City of Cabot’s innovative new Animal Support Services campus, among others.
The campus will be configured to offer the classrooms, meeting rooms, offices, and clinical spaces needed for the dynamic programming being developed. And yet, as excited as we are about the facility, what happens inside is what truly matters.
When completed and accredited, the Lyon College School of Veterinary Medicine will provide students:
- Uniquely innovative, forward thinking, collaborative faculty devoted to students and learning.
- A plethora of immersive experiences with educational technologies and clinical simulation laboratories to prepare them for clinical practice.
- The expertise and experience of veterinary practitioners and practice groups devoted to contributing to the education of their future colleagues.
- Ready access to Cabot Animal Support Services, a national model for shelter programs, with the rich hands-on experiences possible there
- he opportunity to live in Cabot, Arkansas, a welcoming, safe community close to the capital city of Little Rock.
Cabot campus
animal space
classroom space
lab space
Our Impact
Arkansas is poised for transformation. But that requires improvements in health education.
An industrious state, a growing state, a scenic state. Now, it’s time to invest in a healthy state—for humans and animals alike.
No longer forced to choose from out-of-state colleges, the next generation of veterinarians will learn, practice, and serve where they’re needed most: in their home state of Arkansas. That’s a win-win for local students and communities alike.
Veterinary practices, of course, are small businesses that help fuel local communities. They create jobs, including clinical and administrative positions. And every practice will depend on robust supply chains of both medical equipment and day-to-day supplies. Veterinarians often become community leaders.
Within a decade, new graduate veterinarians will deploy throughout Arkansas as veterinary practice associates and veterinary practice owners from rural communities to urban centers. They will also pursue a variety of other career paths, such as livestock and poultry health, specialty practice, academic veterinary medicine, research, conservation medicine, zoo medicine, public health, military service, public service, and many others.
An infusion of new and ambitious professional talent will bring even more energy to a profession that must keep up with growing demand. From individual offices to larger practices, veterinary care in general will benefit from an adequate workforce comprised of well-trained, talented veterinarians. The profession will also benefit from graduates that choose career paths other than private practice.
From the president
“There are no veterinary schools in Arkansas. By providing in-state options, students will no longer need to leave the state to pursue these careers. Help us build a workforce of ‘Made in Arkansas’ veterinarians who are highly trained, practice ready, and willing to work in rural locations.”
Melissa Taverner, PhD
President
Lyon College
“Lyon is creating a unique veterinary school that reimagines veterinary education, incorporates educational technologies, attracts the most innovative faculty, engages educational partners, and graduates career- and future-ready veterinarians, all with an eye on the needs of Arkansas.”
Dr. Eleanor M. Green, DVM, DACVIM, DABVP
Founding Dean, School of Veterinary Medicine
Lyon College
Lyon College is entering veterinary education at a time of profound need, challenge, and opportunity. It is an exciting time to contribute to the advancement of veterinary education and healthcare in a world that benefits so much from its animals and the people who care for them.”
Dr. Eleanor M. Green, DVM, DACVIM, DABVP
Founding dean of the Lyon College School of Veterinary Medicine; professor emerita and dean emerita of Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M University.
Rarely does the opportunity come along to create a brand new vet school, one without preconceived notions of how things were done in the past, one with an open-ness to create a modern vet school, one designed for our future, that leverages contemporary technology, sound science, novel ideas, experiential learning, that purposefully creates a literal community of learners and teachers to iteratively innovate inside and out.”
Jason W. Johnson, DVM, MS, DACT
Vice President, Global Chief Medical Officer, IDEXX
This partnership signifies a significant step forward in Cabot’s commitment to education, healthcare and economic growth. By providing Lyon College students with hands-on experiences and access to leading-edge facilities, we are not only investing in the future of veterinary medicine but also in the vitality of our city.”
Alicia Payseno
Director of Economic Development, City of Cabot
Clinics are experiencing challenges meeting the needs of their staff, clients, and patients. We need more qualified veterinarians, and we needed them yesterday. I am beyond thrilled about Lyon’s commitment to help solve this problem and for the exciting opportunities in store for our profession and state.”
Dr. Ashley Mounts, DVM
Relief Veterinarian, Consulting Services
Veterinary medicine is of great importance to Arkansas, and indeed to the world. Veterinarians function in a multitude of ways, including public health, production medicine, zoonotic disease identification and prevention, and companion animal medicine, just to name a few. Given the rural nature of our state, veterinarians commonly interface where wildlife, domestic animals, and humans meet. They are invaluable in promoting the flourishing of all three. Thoughtfully optimizing the number and quality of veterinarians in the state is essential.
Dr. Matt Gunter, ’97, DVM
Batesville Animal Medical Center
Our Partners
Cabot Animal Support Services
Built on a shared campus with a new Cabot Animal Support Services Center, the partnership ensures future veterinarians will have ample opportunities to fully immerse themselves in animal welfare and shelter medicine at a new, full service clinic.
Join Us
It’s time to make a difference in the lives of our students, our alumni, and all of Arkansas.
All we need is you.
Philanthropists have the opportunity to make a deep and enduring mark on the health of our residents, the career pathways of Arkansas youth, and the vitality of our state.
Lyon College has joined forces with respected partners in the healthcare sector to establish an innovative veterinary school. And early capital and capacity-building investments from farsighted donors will make this vision possible.
The catalyst that will bring these components together is the passionate philanthropic support of those who care about Arkansas’ future. We seek donors who share a vision for Arkansas as a healthy, thriving, desirable place to live and work. Who value the history and traditions that have built the distinctive culture of this state and of Lyon College. And who are ready to realize that vision, together. For Arkansas.
We invite you to help make this vision a reality. For the future of Arkansas.
Learn how you can assist today.
To get involved please contact Lyon College Advancement at (870) 307-7208 or advancement@lyon.edu
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