Program Objectives
-
To provide a clear academic pathway for students desiring a veterinary career in food animal agriculture.
- To provide admission to the CVM for up to six Food Animal Scholars
each year, provided they meet minimum standards for acceptance
established by the Admissions Committee.
- To devise a plan of academic work, experience, and mentoring for
Food Animal Scholars which encompasses undergraduate and veterinary
medical education and meets specific needs of animal agriculture.
- To provide a continuous supply of new veterinary graduates with
skills, experience and expertise with Food Animal Species comparable to
a DVM with one year of clinical experience. These new graduates will
immediately be able to provide valuable service to modern animal
agriculture and will be mentally prepared to continually grow and
improve as scientific health professionals.
- To continually promote and increase the
visibility of the Food Animal Scholars and the Food Animal Scholars
Program.
Examples of professional veterinary service to animal agriculture
include
private food animal practitioners, mixed animal private
practitioners (with at least half of the practice being with food
animals/animal agriculture), veterinarians working in corporate
agribusiness, technical service veterinarians working with animal
health industries, pathologists working in diagnostic laboratories,
food animal veterinarians on university faculties, and veterinarians in
public practice such as veterinary medical officers employed by state
or federal governments.
Definitions
The "Food Animal Scholars Pool"
for each year refers to the
undergraduates who have been selected to be admitted to the College of
Veterinary Medicine following completion of their undergraduate degree
(if they have met the criteria outlined below and have remained in the
pool). Two Pools will exist
during spring semester: one for students entering the CVM that calendar year and
one for students entering the CVM the next calendar year (which is the pool of
students selected from the November applications immediately preceeding the spring semester).
"CVM Food Animal Scholars" refers to the students who have been
admitted to the College of Veterinary Medicine from the Food Animal
Scholars Pool.
Process
Up
to six students and two alternates will be chosen each year to enter
the Food Animal Scholars Pool. Eligible
students will be those who are majoring in Animal Science or Poultry
Science and who will be completing their B.S. degree 2 or 3 full
semesters
following the time of application (fall or spring semesters; does not
count summer school). This is normally first-semester juniors,
but double-majors or transfer students who
still have 2 or 3 full semesters remaining and are classified as
upperclassmen are
eligible to apply. The application deadline is in mid-November
(see application link at the bottom of this web page).
Each year, preference will be given to have at least one swine-focused
scholar and at least one poultry-focused scholar. Beyond this, there is
no overall species or departmental quota for Food Animal Scholars Pool
membership.
The goal is to create Food Animal
Scholars Pools composed of excellent students with a sincere interest
in animal agriculture while maintaining flexibility for them to explore
career options. Up to six students from the Food Animal Scholars
Pool will be admitted to the appropriate class entering the CVM
following successful completion of all requirements and attainment of
required standards. If the Food Animal Scholars Pool does not
contain six qualified students, a lesser number will be admitted.
Once admitted, a student will be designated as a "CVM Food Animal
Scholar" for the year of graduation from the CVM.
The Food Animal Scholars Steering & Mentoring Committee,
composed
of faculty members from the N.C. State University's Departments of
Animal Science (College of
Agriculture and Life Sciences), Poultry
Science (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences), Population
Health and Pathobiology (College of Veterinary Medicine), and one
Committee member from North Carolina A&T University, will select
and
annually review the members of each Food Animal Scholars Pool.
See the current application (linked to at the bottom of this web page)
for the most current list of Steering & Mentoring Committee members.
Each student selected to join the Food Animal Scholars Pool will be
assigned two Faculty Mentors, one from either the Department of Animal
Science or Poultry Science, and one from the Department of Population
Health and Pathobiology. These two Faculty Mentors will work
closely with the students to advise them, monitor their progress and
commitment, and facilitate their additional training opportunities,
such as summer jobs and experiences. Faculty Mentors may be members of
the Steering and Mentoring Committee, but this is not a
requirement. The mentor from the student's undergraduate
department may or may not be the same person as the student's
undergraduate advisor. The undergraduate faculty co-chair of the
Steering and Mentoring Committee assigns the undergraduate mentor, and
the committee co-chair from the College of Veterinary Medicine assigns
the CVM mentor. This happens early in the spring semester during
the academic year the student is admitted to the Food Animal Scholars
Pool.
During his or her education, each student in the Food Animal Scholars Pools
should demonstrate a clear, abiding interest in animal
agriculture. Undergraduate students will complete at least one
food animal management/production course as part of their curriculum
(Beef Management, Swine Management, Dairy Management, Small Ruminant
Management, Turkey Production, and/or Broiler Production).
Students in the pool will also complete a summer internship working in a food animal production or
research setting as approved by the student's mentors.
Members of the existing Food Animal Scholars Pools will
be re-evaluated annually, with membership changes made by the Steering Committee
if necessary. Students in each Scholars Pool who do not meet
minimum academic standards for entry to the College of Veterinary
Medicine
(for N.C. residents, this is currently 3.3 GPA last 45 semester hours,
3.0 GPA overall, and 3.3 in the required courses; for non-residents, it
is 3.4 in all three categories), are not
making progress toward completion of a degree, or who do not continue
to demonstrate a sincere interest in supporting animal agriculture may
be replaced with alternates or other suitable students (by application)
who are at the same stage of their training.
Completion of the degree the student is pursuing is required for entry
into the College of Veterinary Medicine under the Food Animal Scholars
Program, and students are
expected to have an approved Plan of Study showing how this will be
accomplished. In some cases it may be necessary to have one or
two courses from the College of Veterinary Medicine transfer back to
complete an undergraduate degree, which is acceptable if it is part of
the approved Plan of Study. Each student in the Food Animal
Scholars pool is required to apply to the College of Veterinary
Medicine (including submitting reference letters and GRE scores) and
must meet the minimum criteria for entrance.
Each CVM Food Animal Scholar beginning the DVM curriculum will be
required to enroll in a Food Animal Focus Area and to submit a formal
plan of study for their four-year DVM curriculum under the supervision
of their faculty Mentors. This plan will specify Selectives, Electives,
summer work experiences, externships, special projects, and Senior
Rotations.
CVM Food Animal Scholars (who are in the DVM curriculum) will lose the Food Animal Scholars
designation if, in the judgment of the Steering Committee, they do not
continue to demonstrate a sincere interest in professional service to
animal agriculture. In such a case, any student loans made on the
basis of CVM Food Animal Scholar status should be repaid.
Students who complete their DVM degree as Food Animal Scholars will
have received the benefit provided by years of mentoring,
opportunities, and experiences provided by the Food Animal Scholars
Program.
Application for Admission to the Food Animal Scholars Pool
Related Links at North Carolina State University:
Animal
Science Department Undergraduate Student Page
-
Poultry Science Department
-
Population Health and Pathobiology Department at the CVM
-
College of Veterinary Medicine
-
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
-
North Carolina State University
Related Links at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University:
-
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (A&T)
-
NC A&T Animal Sciences Department
Last modified July, 2008 by Animal_Science_Webmaster@ncsu.edu