Beef Bucks, Inc. has committed $20,000 in scholarship funds for students entering the South Dakota State University Professional (DVM) Program in Veterinary Medicine. Over the course of four years, Beef Bucks, Inc. will award a new student entering the Professional Program in Veterinary Medicine with a $5,000 scholarship, starting in the 2020-2021 academic year through the 2024-2025 academic year.
“The South Dakota State University Professional Program in Veterinary Medicine, in collaboration with our partners at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine, have developed a collaborative DVM program that is designed to address the high costs associated with earning a veterinary degree,” said John Killefer, South Dakota Corn Endowed Dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. “The generous scholarships from Beef Bucks will further reduce the cost of this professional education for very deserving veterinary students in the program.”
Awarding their first scholarship in 2000, Beef Bucks, Inc. has been supporting SDSU students and academic programs for 20 years.
“Beef Bucks has always given to SDSU in the past,” said Nancy Montross, Beef Bucks, Inc. Executive Secretary. “We had seen and read many articles about the new veterinary program and knew it would be a good thing for us to donate to. All of us at Beef Bucks know there is a large animal veterinarian shortage in South Dakota – we desperately need this program and hopefully we will see more large animal veterinarians as a result of it.”
SDSU’s Professional Program in Veterinary Medicine is designed to prepare future veterinarians to serve in critical roles across the spectrum of animal health, environmental health, and public health. The new program is made possible through a formal cooperative agreement, in which SDSU students admitted into the professional program complete the first two years of their veterinary medical education at South Dakota State University and then transfer to the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine for the final two years of study.
“The Professional Program in Veterinary Medicine is uniquely designed to address the shortage of veterinarians trained to be successful in rural practices that support our food animal producers and communities,” said Killefer. “We are very excited to welcome the inaugural class into the program at Brookings in the fall of 2021.”
While at SDSU, students will have a rigorous, yet enriched learning experience because class sizes are structured to provide the opportunity for students to have supportive learning communities and more hands-on practical experience working with food and companion animals, as well as making it possible to work closely in a world-class diagnostic facility with dedicated faculty and scientific researchers. The first 20-student cohort is expected to begin classes on the SDSU campus in Brookings within the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences in August 2021.
“The students are the future of our industry,” said Montross. “We are hoping that our donation will encourage similar organizations to do the same and invest in the future.”
For more information about SDSU’s Professional Program in Veterinary Medicine, contact Gary Gackstetter, Director of the Professional (DVM) Program in Veterinary Medicine, at gary.gackstetter@sdstate.edu or (605) 688-6645. For more information about Beef Bucks, Inc., visit www.beefbucks.org.
About Beef Bucks, Inc.:
Established in 1997, Beef Bucks, Inc. is a non-profit organization based in De Smet, South Dakota, that seeks to promote the beef industry and provide industry education to consumers. Another primary goal of the organization is to provide beef to anyone, anywhere without need of refrigeration through pre-paid checks and debit cards that can be used to purchase beef or beef meals.
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