New Jersey’s first veterinary college achieves first step in accreditation process

The first veterinary school in New Jersey is now enrolling students for its inaugural class after advancing toward becoming accredited by the AVMA Council on Education (AVMA COE).

The Shreiber School of Veterinary Medicine of Rowan University announced October 11 that it received a letter of reasonable assurance from the council after meeting September 20-22 at AVMA headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois. The decision is based on the AVMA COE's comprehensive site visit that took place April 21-26 on Rowan's campus in Mullica Hill, New Jersey, just south of Philadelphia.

Renderings show the exterior and interior of the Shreiber veterinary school and the Virtua Health College Research Center at Rowan University. (Images courtesy of Rowan University)

Dr. Matthew Edson, founding dean of the veterinary school, told AVMA News he's ready to see students on campus after all the work that has gone into developing the program.

"I'm quite happy and our entire team is very pleased with our progress. It took many years of work to get to this point. We tried to do this right, and students are our biggest customers. We designed this program to best fit their needs," he said.

Inaugural class

A letter of reasonable assurance is not a pre-accreditation action but indicates that the Shreiber veterinary school may gain accreditation in the future if the program completes the plans it presented to the AVMA COE. The letter paves the way for the school to begin accepting applications for its inaugural class of 70 students who will start in the fall of 2025.

The next cohort and beyond will have the opportunity to apply directly through the Veterinary Medical College Application Service. The veterinary school expects it will eventually admit 90 students annually, with half coming from New Jersey and the rest from out of state.

Tuition and fees for first-year students are $37,500 for in state and $58,500 for those out of state.

Clinical skills laboratory

Thirty people are currently on staff and the school plans to hire 100 more people, according to a recent news article from WHYY, which will include clinicians to provide care for animals at an animal hospital that will operate 24 hours a day.

Rowan University is a public institution founded in 1923 that evolved from a teacher preparation college to a public research institution. Today, Rowan University offers bachelor through doctoral degrees in person and online to 23,000 students through its main campus in Glassboro, New Jersey, as well as its medical school campuses in Camden, Stratford, and Sewell.

Dr. Edson said that other than Michigan State University, Rowan is the only other university now with MD, DO, and DVM programs, which allows for interdisciplinary collaboration.

"This brings together different groups of professionals to understand the importance of working together in a post-grad environment," he said. "The other schools have bought into this arrangement and want to be part of it."

Facilities

The AVMA COE currently accredits 34 veterinary colleges in the United States, four of which are developing colleges with provisional accreditation. These veterinary colleges are located in 27 states and Puerto Rico; four programs are delivering the first year or the first two years of the curriculum at a location in another state.

The AVMA COE also accredits five veterinary colleges in Canada and 18 additional veterinary colleges in Europe (nine), Australia (four), New Zealand (one), South Korea (one), Mexico (one), and the Caribbean (two).

Rowan first sought accreditation for its veterinary school from the AVMA COE in July 2021 with a feasibility study and a request for a consultative site visit, which took place May 14-18, 2023.

Small animal surgical center

In November 2021, the New Jersey legislature approved $75 million in funding to construct the veterinary school's primary academic and clinical facility. Then in April 2023, during a groundbreaking ceremony for the school, South Jersey business leader and philanthropist Gerald B. Shreiber announced a $30 million gift to the institution to support scholarships for students. The veterinary school is now named in his honor.

A ceremony on Rowan's West Campus this past September marked the half-way point in construction. The Shreiber veterinary school and the Virtua Health College Research Center both will be housed in the $176.4 million facility on a 300-acre tract in Gloucester County, New Jersey.

The largest academic facility at Rowan, the 162,000-square-foot building includes space for classrooms, a teaching hospital with clinical services to serve the community, and research and diagnostic laboratories. Construction is anticipated to be completed and the building inhabited by July 2025.

Day-One ready

Dr. Edson said the veterinary school will mostly have a traditional model of clinical education with most experiences housed at a Rowan facility or program. Many external opportunities will be supplemental, depending on how faculty hiring goes, or when extra support is needed.

As a former mixed animal practitioner, Dr. Edson said the curriculum's emphasis will be on preparing students for the primary care setting. Even the veterinary facility is designed so that the veterinary teaching hospital is separate from the general practice, which will have its own pharmacy stock and imaging suite.

"Even if a cardiologist is just down the hall, we try to compartmentalize the training experiences to make them as parallel to the real world as possible," he said. "We will give them specialty rotations but also provide hands-on experiences, so they're not just silent observers. They will be immersed in all clinical and professional skills and tools necessary for success."

Dr. Edson said in the university's announcement that the teaching hospital will be a resource for both students and the community.

"We don't have a lot of access here in South Jersey for emergency care, for specialty care, and we're looking forward to filling these critical needs in our area," he said.

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