College of Veterinary Medicine Timeline

1888-1889 “The Veterinary Curriculum” first appears in the University of Minnesota catalogue
1890 The Veterinary Hospital was built on the St Paul campus
1901 The Veterinary Medicine Building is erected on the St Paul campus. The east wing of the building was built in 1915
1916 The divisions of Veterinary Medicine are organized: Veterinary Sanitation, Veterinary Anatomy, Veterinary Physiology, Veterinary Pathology, Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, and Veterinary Biochemical Products
1938 The Division is given permission to grant it’s students Ph.D.’s in Veterinary Medicine
1940 Willard Lee Boyd is appointed chief of the Veterinary division in the School of Agriculture. He first joined the Division of Veterinary Medicine in 1911 and had become a full professor in 1918
1947 College of Veterinary Medicine is established after the Minnesota legislature appropriates funds
1950 The New Veterinary Clinic is dedicated
1952 Dr. Boyd retires as director. Dr. Martin Roepke, a biochemist, is appointed acting director. The first two female students, JoAnne Schmidt and Griselda Wolf, are accepted to the College of Veterinary Medicine
1954 Dr. W. T. S. Thorp is appointed director after having been the Veterinary Director of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Public Health Service
1955 Dr. Thorp eliminates the Department of Veterinary Science and establishes the Division of Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories
July 1, 1957 The regents make the School of Veterinary Medicine a “college for professional training and research in veterinary medicine.” As a result, the title of ‘Director’ becomes ‘Dean’
1957 Faculty exchange between the Veterinary College of Seoul National University and the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine begins
1971 A veterinary technician program is offered for the first time in Minnesota at the University of Minnesota, Waseca campus
1972 Dr. Dale Sorensen is appointed acting dean of the College. Before his appointment, he had been professor and head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine. The Raptor Center is established
1973 The College’s nine departments are merged into two departments: Veterinary Biology and Veterinary Clinical Sciences. The College’s administration is reorganized into three areas: veterinary medical services, professional and undergraduate education, and veterinary research and graduate education. The Board of Regents approves the College’s new constitution
1975 The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Council on Education reduces the College’s accreditation to probationary accreditation
1976 The College is reorganized again into Veterinary Pathobiology, Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Small Animal Clinical Sciences, and Research and Graduate Education
1978 A new curriculum comes into effect: all lecture and laboratory courses are presented in the first three years of the veterinary medical program. Dean Ewing resigns
1979 Dr. Benjamin S. Pomeroy, who had received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1944, is named acting dean
1980 Dr. Robert Dunlop is named dean. He had been dean of the Murdock Veterinary School in Western Australia. The College begins assisting the development of veterinary research and education in Morocco through work with the Institute Agronomique at Veterinarie Hassan II in Morocco. Dr. Robert Dunlop is appointed dean
1981 The Feline Health Center is organized
1982 The interdisciplinary Swine Center is formed by the College of Veterinary Medicine, College of Agriculture, Agricultural Experiment Station, and Agricultural Extension
1985 College of Veterinary Medicine is formally incorporated into AHC
1987 The Advisory Task Force on Planning recommends that the College of Veterinary Medicine be closed (as well as the School of Dentistry), coming as a complete surprise to faculty, students and alumni.
1988 Dr. Dunlop resigns. Dr. David G. Thawley, chairperson of the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, is appointed interim dean
1990 Dr. Thawley is officially appointed dean of the College
1992 The veterinary technician program in Waseca ends
1998 Dr. David Thawley resigns as dean. Dr. Jeffrey S. Klausner is named interim dean. He first joined the College in 1977 as an assistant professor and was chair of the Department of Small Animal Clinical Science from 1988 to 1998
2000 Dr. Jeffrey S. Klausner is named dean
2007 Dr. Jeffrey S. Klausner resigns as dean. Dr. Trevor Ames is named interim dean of the College after being chair of the College’s Veterinary Population Medicine department
2008 Dr. Trevor Ames is appointed dean

*Timeline based on: John P. Arnold, H.C.H. Kernkamp, One Hundred Years of Progress: The History of Veterinary Medicine in Minnesota, St. Paul: MInnesota Veterinary Historical Museum, 1994.