By Jennifer Whitlock
Field Editor

On Aug. 9, history was made as the inaugural class of 64 Texas Tech University (TTU) veterinary medicine students stepped on the Amarillo campus for the first time.

After completing orientation, students began classes the following week, culminating what Texas Tech School of Veterinary Medicine Dean Guy Loneragan said was a more than 50-year-long process in opening a veterinary school at the university.

“It’s hard to believe it’s real. You wake up in the morning and wonder if it’s a dream, but this has been a project that has been a long, long time coming,” he said in an interview with the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. “There are a lot of really good people that have been working on it to make that vision a reality. So, it really is thrilling to think that we get to be part of a team that is working together for something that so many people have worked on for so long.”

Faculty and staff began a phased move-in to the facilities earlier in August, with the west wing of the main campus expected to be ready in early October.

The new students are largely from rural areas of Texas and Eastern New Mexico, according to Loneragan. The remainder of students not from small towns have what he called “really strong life experiences” associated with rural and regional communities that led them to decide on TTU’s School of Veterinary Medicine.

The hope is that in four years, these students will return or relocate to rural communities to help meet the veterinary needs, which are often underserved. The curriculum is designed around general veterinary practice in smaller communities, and he said the first clinical year takes place in such areas to reinforce those concepts.

“Service to rural and regional communities also means providing access to an affordable professional education. So, in many respects, part of that service to rural and regional communities began with the students we admitted into this program. Also, upon graduation, we are looking for our students to go into a practice type that serves rural and regional communities, and those practice types vary,” Loneragan said. “Sometimes, there are private practitioners in rural and regional communities, but other times they may be serving as feedlot or dairy consultants, but they’re living in a central location and traveling to those agricultural enterprises. So, they’re still serving rural and regional communities, as well.”

Texas Tech broke ground on the veterinary school in September 2019.

The Texas Legislature allocated $17.35 million in the 2019 state budget to address operational needs for the vet school.

Learn more about the TTU School of Veterinary Medicine at https://www.depts.ttu.edu/vetschool.