The Veterinary Technology Health Option at UTM has officially been accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association Committee, making UTM the 24th university in the U.S. to have this program.
The accreditation will now allow students who graduate from UTM to sit for the board exam, enabling them to be a licensed veterinary technician. Before this, students seeking to become licensed veterinary technicians would have been required to graduate from an accredited university elsewhere.
“The vet tech is similar to a veterinary nurse,” said assistant professor of Animal Science Dr. Jason Roberts. “And so when students graduate with a four-year degree in veterinary technology, it would be equivalent to a human nurse.”
The accreditation process is a rigorous one, as the AVMAC conducts a lengthy series of inspections to ensure that the program meets the strict standards of the Committee on Veterinary Technician Education and Activities.
“They [the AVMAC] check to make sure the university as a whole is accredited,” Roberts said. “And then they look at everything we do. We built the curriculum, they looked at the curriculum, they look at all your facilities to make sure that you have everything you need to teach veterinary technology, that everything meets OSHA standards, that the animals are well cared for, that you’re following all USDA regulations…it’s a very involved three-year process.”
A degree in veterinary technology can be used in several fields across the country, including disease research, veterinary clinics and veterinary education.
“When people think of a veterinarian, they think of their local veterinarian who takes care of dogs and cats,” Roberts said. “And that’s certainly a common career field but there are many others. Veterinary technicians are vital to the profession, and so…about anywhere you find a veterinarian, you’ll find a veterinary technician.”
About 120 students are currently involved in the veterinary technology program at UTM. The program’s first 20 graduates graduated this spring on May 3, and 15 more are set to graduate this coming fall.
“I have always had a passion for animals so I knew that I wanted to be in the animal health-care world one way or another,” Rachel Stegall, one of the program’s 20 spring graduates, said in a press release announcing the program’s accreditation. “When I heard about the veterinary health technology option, I knew it was my calling.”
UTM now boasts the only nationally accredited veterinary technology program in West Tennessee. Roberts, who also works as the director of the West Tennessee Animal Diseases Diagnostics Lab on campus, believes the accreditation will draw more students to UTM to receive their bachelor’s degree in veterinary technology.
“It’s already been huge,” Roberts said. “We’ve had a lot of students come in, [and] there’s a lot of interest in this program. Students with this interest historically have had to go a pretty good ways to find this degree, and now they can do it here at Martin. I think it’s going to continue to grow.”
Feature photo: Dr. Jason Roberts (center), veterinarian and UT Martin assistant professor of Animal Science, works with students at the university’s teaching farm. (Nathan Morgan)
