This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Animals are big in Utah. And not just on farms, where horses, sheep and cows far outnumber people. Counting the thousands of smaller pets, including cats, dogs and birds in urban areas, animals here are big business, in which Utahns make hefty investments of time, affection and money.
That's why it seems ironic that Utah has no veterinary school, what with the University of Utah's human medical research and physician training and Utah State University' focus on agricultural studies and research.
A proposal for USU to partner with Washington State University on a veterinary degree program is welcome news. Still, we are concerned that the Aggie plan, on the drawing board for a year, has not yet been put before the Board of Regents, which has the responsibility for approving higher education policy.
It's reminiscent of Weber State University's maneuver to get the Legislature to approve an engineering program without going to the regents and through the appropriate channels. That set a bad precedent that USU should not follow. In this case, Rep. John Mathis, R-Vernal, a veterinarian himself, is poised to introduce a bill outlining the veterinary partnership when the Legislature meets in just a few months. USU should first take the proposal to the regents for their input and approval.
That said, we support the outline of the proposal that was presented to the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee last week. It would allow 20 Utahns and 10 out-of-state students to complete the first two years of veterinary study at USU and then finish up at Washington State, at the same tuition they were paying in Logan.
Subsidizing tuition for the 30 students in the partnership would cost Utah $3 million, a bargain when compared to the $2.6 million the state is paying now for just six graduate students to study veterinary medicine at universities outside Utah. Many others must pay the full cost themselves.
And, as a bonus, the Utah students would have access to Washington State's acclaimed hands-on veterinary clinical facilities, considered some of the best in the nation.
Utah needs veterinarians, to treat large animals on farms and to take care of the many pets kept by Utah's more numerous urban dwellers. Mathis points out that Utah has only 400 veterinarians statewide and is losing about 10 a year to retirement. This efficient program could replace those leaving practice and meet the needs of Utah's steady population growth.
Because where there are people, there are animals.