Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine’s annual open house will be held April 6 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Exotic animal displays, horseback-riding demonstrations, a parade of dog breeds and veterinary hospital tours are some of the many activities that will be available.
The event, sponsored by UGA’s veterinary students, will demonstrate the wide variety of career options available to veterinary medicine graduates, such as maintaining a healthy food supply as well as researching and controlling infectious diseases.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for young people to see firsthand the role of today’s veterinarian,” said Dr. Lari Cowgill, faculty adviser for the open house. “Veterinary medicine entails so much more than the care of cats, dogs, horses and cows. What we learn from animal health has a significant impact on public health issues.”
Younger children may assist with teddy bear surgery while veterinary students repair their favorite stuffed playmates. Other tentatively scheduled activities include quail egg hatchings, ice cream making, question and answer sessions with current veterinary students and scientific exhibits showcasing different types of animals. Tours of the UGA veterinary teaching hospital, which serves both small and large animals, will be available all day. Veterinary students will sell lunch items, baked goods, refreshments and merchandise.
“We have been looking forward to open house all year,” said Raley White, vice president of the class of 2015, which is hosting the event. “We’re extremely excited to be able to bring the public in and demonstrate some extraordinary and unusual things that many people may not have seen before, as well as show off all of the wonderful things that we love about our school and veterinary medicine.”
Admission is free and open to the public. Parking will be available at the softball complex on Milledge Avenue with shuttles running to the college throughout the day. Maps will be available to ease navigation through the exhibits. For assistance with sign language interpretation or handicap accessibility, contact Cowgill at 706/542-2318.
The CVM’s open house has been held annually for more than 30 years and is hosted by first-year veterinary students with help from the second-year class. For more information, including a schedule that will be finalized closer to the event, see www.vet.uga.edu/ERC/openhouse.
UGA College of Veterinary Medicine
The UGA College of Veterinary Medicine, founded in 1946, is dedicated to training future veterinarians, to conducting research related to animal and human diseases and to providing veterinary services for animals and their owners. Research efforts are aimed at enhancing the quality of life for animals and people, improving the productivity of poultry and livestock and preserving a healthy interface between wildlife and people in the environment they share. The college enrolls 102 students each fall out of more than 560 who apply. For more information, see www.vet.uga.edu.
The current UGA College of Veterinary Medicine teaching hospital, built in 1979, serves more than 18,000 patients per year in one of the smallest teaching hospitals in the U.S. The college is currently working to raise $15 million toward building a new veterinary medical learning center, which will include a new teaching hospital, classrooms and laboratories that will allow for the education of more veterinarians. For more information, see http://www.vet.uga.edu/vmlc/.
