SECOND DEGREE: Teaching an old school new tricks

Pennsylvania owners of cats, dogs, horses and cows breathed a collective sigh of relief when the state appropriated funds for the University's Veterinary School of Medicine for the first time in three years. In its 1994-95 fiscal budget, the state appropriated $14 million for the Vet School. The infusion of state funds into the school's budget puts it on stable ground financially, allowing the Vet School to continue to do what it is famous for: conducting research on global agricultural issues and marine biology -- and of course, providing animal health care services to many local pet owners. "We are hoping that the problems we had are behind us," Vet School Dean Alan Kelly said. In 1992, former Governor Robert Casey decided not to fund the Vet School which had received close to $15 million during the 1991-92 fiscal year. This state funding is crucial to the school -- as it makes up 40 percent of their annual budget. And the school is in the unique position of being one of only three veterinary schools in the nation that does not receive 100 percent of its funds from the state. At one point during the three-year-long financial crisis, former University President Sheldon Hackney said that without state aid, plans were being made to eventually close the Vet School. During this period of financial instability, the University provided the Vet School with loans to cover expenses that would usually be funded by state money. Now, even with the return of state money, the school is still unable to cover operating costs through tuition, the funding received by the state and research and endowment monies and . In order to keep the school viable, the University continues to grant loans to it, according to Associate Dean Charles Newton. He added, though, that the Vet School has tightened its budget. "We hope with more successful negotiations with the Commonwealth we can get to a point where the University doesn't have to be responsible for any direct financial support," Newton said, adding that the ideal state grant would be $18 to $20 million. The change in the Vet School budget is accompanied by a change in the title of the man who helped lead the school through its financial crisis. When Kelly, who was officially named Vet School dean this fall, first accepted the position of acting dean in 1994, the Vet School was already operating with a deficit. "I certainly wondered what my future would be," said Kelly, a Vet School professor and alumnus, who replaced former Dean Edwin Andrews. The faculty is thrilled to have one of "their own" as the new dean, said Newton. "He is one of the top muscle researchers in the country," first year Vet student Anson Tsugawa said. "I'm sure with his experience at Penn, he'll be able to do the job." Kelly's primary goal as dean is to make veterinary education more affordable. There are two tuition rates -- one for state residents and one for non-state residents. Next year attending the Vet School will cost $20,268 for in-state matriculants and $24,102 for out-of-state students. "If he can lower the tuition that would be great," third-year Vet student Margaret Mullin said. "Right now, I have loans out for the tuition but the hard part financially will be when I have to go out and get a job to make the payments." The average starting salary of a veterinarian is $31,000, which is not sufficient to cover the large loans students have, Kelly said. "You have students going out with a lot of debt," he said. "It's not a level playing field in terms of the financial burden." The University is helping Kelly reduce tuition; for the first time ever, the University administration has allowed the Vet School to request $2 million in state funding expressly for the purpose of financial aid for its students. Currently, close to $200,000 is given to students as scholarship money, and about $900,000 is available in the form of loans. The Vet School is also launching a campaign to enlarge alumni donations that would increase the amount of available financial aid, according to Vet School spokesperson Helma Weeks. Andrews was able to increase the Vet School's endowment for student scholarships to $3 million, she added. Although the Vet School is now on stable financial ground, it is not looking to expand the student body from its current population of 450 students. But, the number of applications has increased from 625 to 750 this year for a freshman class that usually contains a little more than 100 students. "The applicant numbers are growing dramatically, so fortunately there's no long term affect of what went on three years ago," Newton said. Tsugawa said that the Vet School's financial problems did not deter him from applying. "I never thought that they'd let the school close down," he said. Although it was on the verge of closing, the overall quality of the academic programs were not affected by the loss of state funding, Newton said. And now that its financial situation is stable, the curriculum is expanding at the school which -- founded in 1884 -- is the second oldest in the country. The Vet School is currently initiating a program that gives students a choice of five majors their senior year. Students will be able to major in Small Animals, Small Animals/Large Animals, Large Animals, Equine, and Food Animals, which includes dairy and poultry animals. During their clinical training, students have the opportunity to conduct research and handle caseloads of patients. The New Bolton Center, located in Kennett Square, treats large animals such as horses, cows and sheep. During foaling season, owners can take their horses to stay at New Bolton's stable -- enabling the horses to receive immediate medical attention if necessary while foaling. "The people that I'm working with there are tops in their fields," Mullin said. "The caseload they get there is tremendous." Vet School Professor James Ferguson is currently researching the impact of the dairy farm on its surrounding environment at New Bolton. "Our aim is to build integrated models that utilize information on soil, agronomy, water and feeding efficiency, so that a program can be tailored to the individual farm," he said. Researchers have developed a cost-efficient feeding program that reduces protein while increasing milk production and decreasing nitrate output in the cow's manure. The New Bolton Center is also beginning construction on a 150-cow dairy. Construction should be completed in a year, allowing Vet School students more opportunities to work with cows. In addition, the Vet School creating a new center concentrating on the research and treatment of tumors in small animals. "It's an enormous opportunity for us to learn more about cancer in animals," said Kelly. The Mari Lowe Center for Comparative Oncology will be the first fully-endowed center at the Vet School with a gift of $4 million from the estate of Elizabeth Lowe. The facility will greatly improve the ability of veterinary oncologist to treat a variety of tumors in animals. A high-energy linear accelerator and a low-energy orthovoltage radiation therapy unit will be an important component of the Mari Lowe Center. The Vet School hopes to create more endowed centers in areas such as equine sports medicine, environmental medicine and infectious diseases, according to an article in the Vet School magazine, Bellwether. The addition of the Lowe Center demonstrates the Vet School's commitment to animal health research. The Vet School is second only to the University's Medical School in terms of the number of papers it published in scientific magazines, according to Kelly. "We're an unusual medical school committed to our faculty and students," said Kelly. With renewed state funding, the 110-year-old Vet School can continue its ground breaking research and health care services for another 100 years.

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