Department of Veterinary Medicine hosts open house

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Department of Veterinary Medicine will host an open house on Saturday, Nov. 14, from 11 a.m to 5 p.m. Participants can enjoy activities and demonstrations in the department's new home.

Faculty, staff and students from the joint veterinary medicine program with Colorado State University will lead the activities. The open house is for all ages, including children. It's a great opportunity for high school students to get a glimpse of what veterinary school is like.

Participants can:

• Tour the veterinary medicine program's new home and meet its first class of students.
• Test their own surgery skills and watch stuffed animals be sutured.
• Watch veterinarians use a dog mannequin to show how they give CPR, and view other life-size animal models and real skeletons.
• Find out what radiographs can reveal.
• Get a face painting and go home with an animal balloon.

The program's first class of 10 students, seven of whom are Alaska residents, began in the fall of 2015. They will spend their first two years at UAF and their last two at CSU. The joint program is housed within UAF's College of Natural Science and Mathematics and is Alaska’s first professional veterinary medicine program. It gives preference to qualified Alaska students who then pay a reduced tuition their first two years. All students receive their Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree through CSU.

Extension veterinarian Lisa Lunn also teaches through the department. This article was written by Meghan Murphy, the public information officer for the UAF College of Natural Science and Mathematics.