Jonesboro, AR – Jonesboro Right Now – Arkansas’s first public veterinary school is officially open and ready to begin classes.
In a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, officials celebrated the grand opening of Arkansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM). Classes begin Wednesday, Aug. 12.
Its inaugural class, called the Vet Pack, has 122 students, with 46 being Arkansans and 76 of them being out-of-state. A white coat ceremony was held for these students on Saturday. They will graduate in 2030.
“While we celebrate the completion of this remarkable building, what matters most is what will happen inside,” said newly named ASU System President Dr. Todd Shields. “Here, future veterinarians will discover their calling, faculty will advance knowledge, and graduates will strengthen communities across Arkansas.”
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Previously, when students wanted to attend a veterinary school, they had to go out of state.
Additionally, there is a nationwide shortage of veterinarians, with many aging out of the industry or retiring. The National Institute of Food and Agriculture, under the United States Department of Agriculture, lists several veterinary shortages across the state, in both rural and private practices.
“It exists because Arkansas needs it,” Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during the ceremony. “There are not enough veterinarians to care for the animals that feed this nation, or the pets and wildlife that make life here what it is. That is a gap that this college was built to close.”
The building is approximately 56,000 square feet and is located east of the Arkansas Biosciences Institute. It features teaching spaces, flexible-use classrooms, an 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, construction is nearly complete for equine and bovine farms to educate students in large animal medicine, with that project estimated to be finished in the fall. It will also offer a large animal ambulatory service to local farms.
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Katie Kasserman, a Paragould native who was the first student admitted to the CVM, spoke during the ceremony. She said that for her, and other Arkansas natives who will attend the school, the college’s opening “is a little closer to home.”
“We know it’s a lot to look at our family farms, our local clinics, our rural communities, knowing we wanted to serve them, but thinking that we had to leave them behind to get our education. But today, that changes,” Kasserman said. “We’re investing back into the very animals, people, and communities that raised us. We are home, and exactly where we belong.”
The college cost $33.2 million to construct, with the ASU Systems Board of Trustees approving a $30.6 million bond issue to finance the project in November 2024. The CVM was first announced in 2023, and the university broke ground on the project in March 2025. It was accredited in April.
The CVM will offer a four-year degree program, with three years spent primarily on campus in a competency-based, hands-on curriculum and one year of clinical training in veterinary practices across Arkansas and beyond.
Dr. Heidi Banse will serve as dean of the CVM. She was announced as dean in May 2024. She thanked the inaugural class for choosing the CVM.
“It takes a pioneer spirit when you’re the inaugural class to join a new program and trust us to support you to becoming a competent veterinarian,” Banse said. “I’m so grateful that they have trusted us with their futures.”
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