Arkansas State University will welcome the inaugural class of its College of Veterinary Medicine this month with orientation starting Thursday, Aug. 6, and class beginning Wednesday, Aug. 12, marking a milestone for veterinary education as several new colleges either launch or move closer to opening across the United States.
The program, which received its Letter of Reasonable Assurance from the American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education earlier this year, will enroll its first class of 120 DVM students this fall. The college is the first veterinary school in Arkansas and was established to help address growing demand for veterinarians, particularly in rural and food animal practice.
“We are thrilled with our progress to date in the development of our program and are looking forward to training students to be practice-ready and contribute to the veterinary workforce in Arkansas, the Mid-South and beyond,” said Dr. Heidi Banse, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, in a press release. “Our amazing team has been working tirelessly over the past two years to prepare our programs and our curriculum to be ready for our current and future students.”
Arkansas State is the latest addition to a growing number of veterinary colleges launched in response to workforce shortages across the profession. Demand for veterinarians continues to outpace the number of graduates entering practice in many regions of the country, particularly in rural communities and food animal medicine. Universities and state leaders have increasingly invested in new veterinary programs with the goal of expanding educational capacity and improving access to veterinary care for livestock producers, companion animal owners and public health agencies.
The launch comes during one of the most significant periods of expansion in veterinary education in decades.
Clemson University is also welcoming its inaugural DVM class this fall, adding another new veterinary college to the nation’s educational landscape. Meanwhile, Utah State University enters the second year of its DVM program after welcoming its first class in 2025 and is expanding enrollment as its new veterinary education facilities come online.
Several additional veterinary schools are also progressing toward opening in the coming years:
- Lyon College (Arkansas) is targeting its inaugural class in fall 2027 pending AVMA accreditation.
- University of Maryland Eastern Shore continues through the accreditation process and is targeting its inaugural class in summer 2027. The school would become Maryland’s first stand-alone veterinary school and the nation’s first veterinary school at a public historically Black college or university.
- Roseman University (Nevada) continues development of what would become Nevada’s first veterinary college, with an AVMA consultative accreditation site visit scheduled for early 2027.
This expansion could help strengthen the pipeline of future practitioners, although it will take several years before the first graduates enter the workforce. Many of the new colleges, including Arkansas State, have emphasized preparing practice-ready graduates through distributive clinical education and partnerships with practicing veterinarians. Whether the growing number of veterinary schools ultimately translates into more veterinarians serving rural and production animal communities will be closely watched in the years ahead.
