VETERINARY DEANS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY (1916-2009)

By Donald F. Smith, DVM, DACVS
Posted January 14, 2016

Author's Note: This is the second of six contiguous articles on veterinary medicine at Texas A&M University, in honor of the college’s centennial year.

Mark Francis was the founder and the first dean of the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine (as it was called then). He had been the first veterinary graduate of the Ohio State University and arrived in the late 1880s at the land-grant Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now Texas A&M University). For almost two decades even before the college was actually formed, Francis taught courses in the veterinary sciences and conducted  research on the tick-borne protozoal disease called Texas Cattle Fever that was stifling the cattle industry.

Current dean Eleanor Green attributes the economic relationship to the cattle industry as the rationale for establishing the veterinary college. “Cattle and Texas Fever,” Green says, “is what justified establishing a separate college and providing funding for the veterinary college in Texas in 1916 (personal communication, 2014).

Francis remained dean for 20 years after the college was established in 1916. The second, third and fourth deans (Ross Marsteller, Ralph Dunn and Ivan Boughton) were also graduates of Ohio State. Boughton served until 1953, when Willis Armistead was appointed. A World War II veteran, Armistead was a Texas A&M alumnus and also held an appointment as AVMA president (1957-58). He was dean at Texas A&M for only four years, then moved to Michigan State University and later to the University of Tennessee, serving as veterinary dean at both universities.

During Alvin Price’s deanship (1957-73), the college assumed responsibility for teaching large numbers of undergraduate students in the pre-professional curriculum. It was not until 2004 that the name was changed to College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, reflecting this increased responsibility.

Texas A&M alumnus George Shelton ’48 was the college’s seventh dean. Referred to many as a “students’ dean”, the college expanded greatly in size and programs during his 15-year tenure. The first endowed professorship was also created during this period.

Another Ohio State alumnus named John Shadduck served as dean for seven years. Highly respected as a national leader, Shadduck led the college through a period of major research growth and development. He enhanced the DVM teaching programs by including veterinarians in private practice and those in research institutions outside of academia. He also presided over the construction of a new veterinary research building and new large animal hospital.

Texas alumnus H. Richard Adams ’66, who had led the veterinary college at the University of Missouri returned to his alma mater in 1998 and served as dean until 2009. During his tenure, the college continued to expand and develop its research programs in concert with many external collaborators including Baylor College of Medicine.

During Adams’ deanship, Professor Bonnie Beaver became the first female chair of the AVMA’s Executive Board (now called the Board of Directors) and was elected to the AVMA presidency in 2004.

Dr. Smith invites comments at dfs6@cornell.edu.   He also acknowledges the assistance of Dean Eleanor Green and Megan Palsa, PhD (Executive Director of Communications, Media and Public Relations) for their assistance. 


The topic for the next blog (Tuesday, January 18th) is the current dean of the college, Dr. Eleanor Green.

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE & BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES

By Donald F. Smith, DVM, DACVS

Posted January 11, 2016.

Editors Note: This is the first of six contiguous articles on veterinary medicine at Texas A&M University, in honor of their college’s centennial year.

2016 is a big year for Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M University. Not only is this year the centennial of the founding of the only veterinary college in Texas, but it also heralds the completion of a $350 million capital expansion plan and the progress on a major small animal hospital campaign. Here are a few facts about the college and its environment.

The institution’s official name is the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. This designates the inclusion of Biomedical Sciences, the pre-professional undergraduate program that is aligned administratively with veterinary medicine. Only two other US veterinary colleges have a similar arrangement (Colorado State and Washington State).

In 2015, the college achieved its highest ranking to date among US veterinary colleges (third), and also placed sixth in the world by Quacquarelli Symonds ranking.

Texas is the second largest state in the country. The city of College Station, where the university is located, and the contiguous city of Bryan have a combined population of 200,000.  They also strategically located within 170 miles from the state’s four largest cities with Houston to the southeast, Austin and San Antonio to the southwest, and Dallas-Fort Worth to the north.

Texas is the number one state for cattle (a $10.5 B industry), as well as for sheep and goats. The state also has 15% of the nation's horses, making it number one in that category as well.

Dr. Mark Francis (first dean) and Dr. Eleanor Green (current dean)
Photo courtesy of Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

Mark Francis, Texas’s first veterinary dean (Ohio State graduate, 1887) became so influential nationally that OSU’s president said of him in 1937, “If Ohio State University had trained but one man in the seventy-five years of its existence, and that man was Mark Francis of Texas, it had given back to its people more than they had expended upon it in the three-quarters of a century of its existence.”

Until the 1960s, all male students at Texas A&M (including veterinary students) were required to participate in military training as part of the Corps of Cadets.

Of the college’s 5,000 AVMA-member graduates, over 77% live in Texas, giving the highest percentage of in-state graduates of any veterinary college in the country.