Revised Curriculum Approved for Fall 2025
|
|
In fall of 2025, future veterinarians beginning our DVM program will be entering a recently revised, student-centered curriculum designed to foster critical thinking, clinical reasoning and lifelong learning. The revision process involved gathering data and seeking extensive input from both alumni and educators as well as other experts. The first phase of the curriculum was approved by an overwhelmingly positive faculty vote in April.
While much of the content will carry over, there are significant changes to how content is delivered and to student activities and assessments with enhanced opportunities for self-directed learning and relevant problem solving. One of the biggest changes will be a reduction in the amount of time students spend in classroom-based lecture – adding in a flipped classroom or blended learning model in which students engage with core content independently before coming to class.
In addition, the new curriculum incorporates a four-hour block each week for hands-on, in-clinic training. Our recent significant building and expansion project offers more study and collaboration space as well as leading edge equipment and technology that enhances students’ overall learning experience. Professional skills training – encompassing communication, teamwork, leadership, ethics, financial literacy and practice management – will occur in a designated course as well as in concepts integrated throughout the curriculum.
With its progressive approach, this revision aims to ensure our DVM students are equipped to excel as practitioners immediately upon graduation and have the tools to flourish in a complex and changing profession. As always, we’re committed to ensuring the SVM continues to build on its reputation of leadership and excellence. We look forward to sharing more news as we plan for, and begin implementation of, the revised curriculum.
|
|
|
|
Tailgate and SVMAA Meeting – Join Us September 7
|
Enjoy Wisconsin tailgate fare, celebrate the 2024 SVM Alumni Award recipients, tour SVM North, hang out with Bucky and more when the Badgers take on the South Dakota Coyotes Saturday, September 7.
Tailgate tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children 2 years old and under. Or, tailgate + football game tickets are $40 per person. There is a limit of six tickets per party. Tailgate tickets include food and drink ticket (additional beverages available for purchase).
The SVMAA meeting is from 9:30 am - 11:15 am before the tailgate, with coffee available beginning at 9:00 am. All SVM graduates are welcome to join and will receive an extra drink ticket upon completion of the meeting. Also be sure to sign up for SVM North tours when you register.
Registration closes August 21 and capacity is limited, so act fast!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Please Note: Meeting Change
|
Due to the WVMA event “An Evening with the Deans,” marking the transition from Dean Mark Markel to Dean Jonathan Levine, the SVMAA meeting scheduled for August 5 has been changed to July 29 at 6:30 pm. For more information, visit SVMAA or contact Kristi Thorson at kristi.thorson@wisc.edu.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Alumni Reunion - Thanks for Coming!
|
It was wonderful to welcome alumni from our classes of 1989, 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019 back to campus and SVM on June 22 for our annual Alumni Reunion. Thank you to all who joined the fun!
For alumni in the classes of 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020: Save the date! Next year’s reunion is booked for Saturday, June 21, 2025 at the SVM.
|
|
|
Clinical Study: Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome
|
|
We’re currently looking for hedgehog patients with a history of suspected Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome (WHS) or other neurologic disease that are receiving end-of-life treatment. WHS is a common, fatal disease of hedgehogs that is poorly understood. This study will examine if the disease is hereditary based on genomic analysis and will evaluate how WHS develops and how the brain responds to the disease. For more information, contact Grayson Doss at gdoss@wisc.edu or (608) 890-2713.
|
|
|
Congratulations, News & Updates
|
In June, we celebrated our finishing house officers with a series of special events. We wish all of them the best on their next adventures!
|
|
This summer, Johanna Elfenbein (Department of Pathobiological Sciences) was named the Walter and Martha Renk Chair for Preharvest Food Safety and Lyric Bartholomay (PhD’04; Department of Pathobiological Sciences) was named the Dr. Bernard C. Easterday Professor in Infectious Disease. Both will be effective July 1, 2024, for a five-year term. These faculty awards were established through the generosity of the late Walter and Martha Renk (Renk Chair) and Linda and John Nelson (Easterday Professorship).
A report by PhD candidate Marcos Isidoro-Ayza (advisor Bruce Klein, Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology) about the pathogenesis of the fungal disease White Nose Syndrome that has decimated bat populations all over the United States was selected for publication in the July 12, 2024, issue of the journal Science – and, in fact, was featured on the cover. More coverage here.
The topic of bird flu in dairy cattle continues to make news. State Veterinarian Darlene Konkle (’89 DVM’93 MS’97) along with Keith Poulsen (’00 DVM’04 PhD’12; Department of Medical Sciences and director, Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory) and UW professor John Lucey (Department of Food Science) discussed the topic on a recent episode of the UW Now Livestream. Poulsen was also interviewed for this Wisconsin Public Radio story.
Check out the new The Dairyland Initiative Podcast on your preferred podcast platform. Hosts Courtney Halbach and Nigel Cook (chair, Department of Medical Sciences) discuss practical dairy cattle housing solutions and showcase approaches dairy farmers are taking to enhance cow welfare and animal health through improved barn design and management.
|
|
|
|
|
