 The
school admitted its first students to the professional curriculum during
the 1973–74 academic year. The original entering class consisted of 36
students, all residents of Louisiana. Class size increased significantly
in subsequent years. The school participates in the Southern Regional
Education Board’s program for education in veterinary medicine. Training
contracts provide a limited number of entering spaces for qualified
candidates from Arkansas. In addition, a limited number of highly
qualified, nonresident applicants are admitted under the school’s special
admission policy.The school has an
excellent faculty supported by modern equipment. The Veterinary Medicine
Building, located on the west side of the campus near the Mississippi
River, was dedicated in October 1978. It
houses three academic departments plus the Veterinary Medicine Library, the
Veterinary Teaching Hospital & Clinics, and the Louisiana
Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory. The facilities at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital
& Clinics are used as laboratories where students are introduced to
clinical cases and animal disease problems, as well as to methods and
techniques used in their solution. The clinical case load at the hospital,
in-field services, and herd health programs offer ample opportunities for
the education of the complete veterinarian.
The school library, located in the Veterinary Medicine
Building, provides a resource sufficient to support programs in instruction,
research, and service.
Accreditation
The
AVMA Council on Education (COE) is the
national accrediting agency for veterinary medical
education in the United States. The AVMA COE assures
that minimum standards in veterinary medical education
are met by all AVMA-accredited colleges or schools of
veterinary medicine, and that students enrolled in those
colleges or schools receive an education that will
prepare them for entry-level positions in the
profession. The LSU program has met all essential
requirements for an acceptable college or school as
established by the AVMA COE. Full accreditation was
granted in 1977 and reaffirmed in 1984, 1991, 1998, and
2005. In 2008, the AVMA COE revised the status to
limited accreditation pending the expansion of large
animal infectious disease isolation facilities and the
development of additional objective criteria to document
the excellence of graduates of the school. In April
2008, the Louisiana State Legislature approved funding
for a Large Animal Isolation Unit, which is an important
step toward reestablishing full accreditation. Also, the
School has expanded and improved its outcomes assessment
portfolio, and in 2009, the AVMA COE noted the School’s
improvements in the area of outcomes assessments and
commended the School for obtaining funding for the Large
Animal Isolation Unit, though the School remains on
limited accreditation until the isolation unit
construction is complete. The next evaluation by the
AVMA COE will take place in 2012. The limited
accreditation status has no impact on the graduation
status of LSU SVM students' progress, their status upon
graduation, or their ability to become licensed after
graduation.
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