Jonesboro, AR — (JonesboroRightNow.com) — March 12, 2025 — In front of a packed crowd Wednesday, Arkansas State University leadership broke ground on the campus’s newest addition: the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Arkansas currently does not have a veterinary school, so Arkansas students must apply to out-of-state programs. In addition, it is estimated that Arkansas has the lowest number of veterinarians per capita of all states, with 10 out of 75 counties lacking one.
“Today we get a chance to celebrate the new invention for the state of Arkansas and the opportunity for us to be a solution for this state and the communities that we are in service to,” said Dr. Brendan Kelly, ASU Systems President. “That is to create a talent pipeline for one of the most needed areas in the United States, and that’s in veterinary medicine.”
The school was first announced in 2023 and will open in fall 2026. Construction is slated to begin in late spring 2025. The school is in its final step before accreditation, in which it must be approved by the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Council on Education, which may happen this summer.
The college will serve a proposed class of 120 students in its first year. Of those 120 spots, 60 are reserved for Arkansas residents. Tuition is estimated to cost $35,000 a year for in-state students and $55,000 a year for out-of-state.
The building will be approximately 56,000 square feet and located east of the Arkansas Biosciences Institute. It will include teaching spaces, flexible use classrooms, anatomy lab and prep areas, a surgical skills training area, a clinical skills lab and more that will be accessible to students at all times.
In addition, A-State’s Bovine Farm and Equine Center will be renovated to allow students to train and work in large animal medicine.
Construction is estimated to cost $33.2 million. In November, the ASU Systems Board of Trustees approved a $30.6 million bond issue to finance the project.
“These future veterinarians will be trained in cutting-edge facilities, learn from distinguished faculty and participate in impactful research that will address real world challenges,” said A-State provost Dr. Calvin White. “It will serve as a hub for collaboration for our faculty and students, who will work alongside industry leaders, professionals and researchers to solve pressing issues in animal health, agriculture and public safety.”
Dr. Heidi Banse will serve as dean of the college, which A-State announced in May 2024. Banse spoke about the college’s “competency-based” curriculum.
“Competency-based education is a newer movement in education that ensures students are prepared and workforce ready, so we will be creating practitioners that are ready to hit the ground running when they enter practice following the completion of their clinical year,” Banse said. “We’ve had the unique opportunity here to build a building that fits our vision for the curriculum.”
The program will be four years long, with three spent on-site at the A-State campus and 12 months spent in clinical training at veterinary practices. Practices in Arkansas and southern Missouri, the Northeast Arkansas Humane Society, the Department of Agriculture, the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, the Department of Corrections, and more have all announced partnerships with the program.
Lyon College in Batesville is also working to open a School of Veterinary Medicine in Cabot, which it plans to open in 2026. Whichever school opens first will be Arkansas’s first veterinary medicine education program.
Speaking for A-State’s student body, Gavin Brown, a senior animal science major with a pre-vet emphasis from Cabot, said he could not stress “how important” the day was.
“The opening of the College of Veterinary Medicine means new opportunities, not just for future vet students like me, but for our entire campus community,” Brown said. “For many students, pursuing a career in veterinary medicine meant looking out of state for educational opportunities. But now, with this new college, A-State is opening doors right here at home, which means that our university is truly a place where students can achieve their dreams, no matter how big they are.”