Scope and Contents
The collection contains correspondence, publicity materials, reports, planning materials, minutes of the executive faculty board, masters theses, subject files, historical research material, and oral histories relating to the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.
Dates
- Creation: 1969 -- 2016
Creator
- Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine (Organization)
Language of Materials
English
Access
University records are closed for 20 years from the date of their creation. Records older than 20 years that do not pertain to student education, staff and faculty employment and Board of Trustees records are open for research. This collection may require review before it is available for use. Please contact DCA for further details.
Conditions Governing Use
Some material in this collection may be protected by copyright and other rights. Please see “Reproductions and Use” on the Digital Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permission to publish. Copyright to all materials created by Tufts University employees in the course of their work is held by the Trustees of Tufts University.
Biographical / Historical
The School of Veterinary Medicine was established in 1978, opened in 1979, and graduated its first class in 1983. Established through the advocacy of President Jean Mayer, the school was unique in its affiliation to a health sciences complex rather than to a school of agriculture. The school is located on a 634 acre campus in Grafton, Massachusetts, site of a former state mental hospital. The school also shares facilities with the medical and dental schools on the downtown Boston campus, where vet students receive their first year of instruction in the basic sciences. Students at the veterinary school are exposed to care of all types of animals including food (cattle, sheep, swine, goat), fiber (sheep, llama), companion (dog, cat), and sporting (horse) animals. In addition, students are given the option of learning about care for wildlife through the wildlife medicine program. In addition to medicine, surgery, preventive medicine, and public health, the school also educates students about ethics, conservation medicine, and human-animal relationships.
Initial discussions on the establishment of a veterinary school were begun in the early 1970s as the absence of such a school in the New England region combined with a prediction of a nationwide deficit of veterinarians made the need apparent. After a variety of options were explored, including locating a school at the Otis Air Force base on Cape Cod, Tufts, under Jean Mayer's leadership, stepped forward to take the lead in the project. Richard B. Talbot, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University was brought in as interim dean to oversee the startup of the school on a part-time basis. On April 29, 1978, the trustees voted to establish the school as part of Mayer's vision of an integrated "one medicine" program embracing the totality of medical, dental, veterinary, and nutrition education.
The school provides clinical facilities as part of the Tufts-New England Veterinary Medical Center, which includes the Foster Hospital for Small Animals, the Large Animal Hospital, the Cornelius Thibeault Equine Clinic, the Amelia Peabody Pavilion, the Issam Fares Equine Sports Medicine Program, the Harrington Oncology Program, and the Wildlife Clinic at Grafton, as well as the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, and the Ambulatory Farm Clinic based at Woodstock, Connecticut.
The degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.) is the primary degree offered by the school, though since 1995 the school also offers a Master of Science (M.S.) in Animals and Public Policy. The school features several signature programs which offer specialized perspectives on veterinary sciences, including Wildlife Medicine, Equine Sports Medicine, International Veterinary Medicine, Ethics and Values in Veterinary Medicine, and Biotechnology and Veterinary Medicine.
Extent
25.59 Linear Feet (23 boxes, 1 oversize folder, and 7 bound volumes.)
44 Digital Object(s)
33.68 Gigabytes
Arrangement
The collection is organized in nine series: Origins and planning; Office of the Dean, correspondence; Subject files; Programs and events; Executive faculty board minutes; Newspaper clippings and publicity materials; Masters theses; Additional accessions; and Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine history.
Processing status
This collection is partially processed.
Repository Details
Part of the Tufts Archival Research Center Repository
35 Professors Row
Tisch Library Building
Tufts University
Medford Massachusetts 02155 United States
617-627-3737
archives@tufts.edu