New veterinary college dean outlines plans
By Roy Ockert Jr.
It was “getting-to-know-you” time before last week’s program meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Jonesboro. I was at a table with Dr. Heidi Banse, the new dean of the also new Arkansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) , and Dr. Len Frey, who had broken out of the ASU Administration Building to work in the college.
As Program Committee chairman, I had invited Len to come to a club meeting and tell our members about plans for the college, which had gained approval of the state Higher Education Coordinating Board last year. He volunteered to bring the new dean, who had been on board only since July 22, and let her do most of the talking.
At our table, though, Len was providing each of us with some introductory information about the other, and he pointed out that I had a part in a seminal event for A-State — the passage of legislation in January 1967 making the college a university, then only the second for Arkansas. (It was a very minor part — I covered it as a student journalist.)
His point was that the establishment of a veterinary program is another seminal event for A-State, and Dr. Banse will certainly play a key role in the years ahead.
I went further, suggesting that A-State’s push into health-related educational programs — nursing, osteopathic medicine, now a veterinary school and soon a dentistry program — is already a most important chapter in its history. In fact, throw in the Arkansas Biosciences Institute, a windfall of tobacco settlement funding, because it will be a great resource for all those programs.
Although still early in her career, Dr. Banse is a recognized pioneer in veterinary medicine education. While on the faculty at the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine, she was involved in the development and implementation of competency-based curriculum in veterinary education, which is now a growing movement in the field.
She plans to implement version 2.0 at ASU.
As she explained the concept to club members, traditional veterinary education programs started with two years of mostly in-class training. Students are then expected to transition into practice.
“We want to build our curriculum around what we want out students to be able to do,” she said. To simplify, with earlier hands-on experience, the students then should be more competent to make the transition.
The A-State program will require three years of coursework, allowing the students to gain clinical and surgical skills, and a fourth year of clinical training. The model will allow graduating students to go immediately into practices both rural and urban in Arkansas, the region and the nation.
The new college should take in its first class of about 120 students in the fall of 2026, and that would be the goal for each year. Ideally, each class would be about 50 percent Arkansas residents.
The annual tuition for in-state students would be about $34,000; for out-of-state students, about $54,000.
Lyon College, the private liberal arts institution at Batesville, is also planning a School of Veterinary Medicine, as well as a School of Dental Medicine, at Cabot and Little Rock, respectively. Its plans are to open the vet school for its inaugural class in the fall of 2025.
Whichever comes first will be Arkansas’ first veterinary medicine education program, and the need is great.
Banse said that of the state’s 75 counties, 26 are underserved by veterinarians; nine have no vet, and 12 have only one. The demand for more veterinarians in both urban and rural areas far outstrips the supply, she said. That’s largely the case nationally.
In considering the position here, she did her research. She found Jonesboro an ideal location and ASU a unique campus, pointing to the Student Support Services, College of Agriculture, Beck College of Sciences and Mathematics, New York Institute College of Osteopathic Medicine and ABI
A-State has been doing feasibility studies for the veterinary program since 2019, and Frey was involved from the beginning.
Frey was co-chair of the dean search committee, and it’s obvious venture has been exciting for him. Having served as executive vice chancellor for finance and administration and chief operating officer since 2018, he was ready for a new challenge. What better for someone with considerable academic administration on his resume than to help build a new college?
As senior advisor for strategic initiatives and senior associate dean, his primary role will be to supporting the new dean by focusing on the operational side of the veterinary college. This will enable Banse to devote full attention to recruiting faculty and guiding the startup of the college’s academic programs.
For now their offices are located in the Ellis House, 204 East Nettleton Ave., which has had several transitional functions for the university in recent years. As the veterinary faculty and staff grow, the house will buzz with activity.
Frey said that current plans are to construct the primary veterinary education building at the corner of University Loop East and University Loop South, which is south of the residential hall Pack Place and east of the ABI. Construction is projected to start in late spring 2025.
The new college will also utilize for training purposes the existing Agricultural Teaching and Research Center, also known as the University Farm and Equine Center. They already have plenty of patients.
Roy Ockert is a former editor of The Jonesboro Sun, The Courier at Russellville and The Batesville Guard. He can be reached at royo@suddenlink.net.