Disaster - College of Veterinary Medicine - Texas A&M University

Development News
Scholarships, awards help fund veterinary education
Construction has finally begun on
the long awaited Veterinary Imaging
and Cancer Treatment Center. As
you may know, the center will provide
advanced imaging capabilities for small
and large animal species with a new CT
scanner and an advanced 3 Tesla MRI
unit. In addition, state of the art cancer
treatment will be available with the
new Tomotherapy unit.
Tomotherapy will allow our oncologists
to administer radiation therapy
directly to the tumor in a concentrated
form while minimizing the amount of
radiation applied to the surrounding
normal tissues. This new process will
also allow radiation of multiple tumors
in the animal’s body with one pass
through the unit, and, as is the case
with the imaging equipment, treatment
can be provided for large and small
animal patients.
The College of Veterinary Medicine
& Biomedical Sciences (CVM) has
been very prudent with our funds.
We currently have on hand the funds
required to construct the Imaging and
Cancer Treatment Center building and
to install the basic equipment. We are
still in need of funds to procure and
install the Tomotherapy unit, however,
so if you or someone you know would
have an interest in supporting this
aspect of the center, please let us know.
We would love to visit with you about
the opportunities and options available,
and we would very much like to
attach your name to the center.
We have also been very blessed at the
CVM to receive some new awards and
scholarships recently. The generosity
of our donors is truly remarkable, and
it makes it possible for us to accomplish
our mission of providing the best
education possible to the veterinarians
of the future. Veterinary education
involves attracting and retaining the
finest faculty members to provide the
required instruction for our students,
but it involves so much more.
Veterinary colleges also depend on
having a great team of basic scientists,
graduate students, researchers, residents,
and interns to allow discovery
and development of the latest in our
understanding of disease as well as the
newest methods of disease treatment
and prevention. It is certainly true that
there are great costs associated with
obtaining a professional veterinary
44 • CVM Today • Summer 2010
education, but
we want to be
mindful of the
fact that educatinggraduate
students,
interns, and
residents also
has great costs
but is just as
necessary.
As we consider
supporting
our veterinary
students with
scholarships,
we want to
also consider
the fact that
scholarships for
graduate students,
interns,
and residents
will be extremely helpful in developing
and retaining the next generation of
instructors for the veterinarians of the
future. Dr. Joe Coulter and his wife,
Elaine, have recently made a great
commitment to fund the first endowed
fellowship for graduate students at the
CVM. We are grateful for that first
step in what we hope will be a trend to
recognize and support graduate education
as an integral part of veterinary
education.
Speaking of scholarships, the
Scholarships and Awards Committee
has just completed their work, and
they have awarded over $1,000,000 in
scholarships. Every qualified veterinary
student will receive one or more scholarships
for the 2010-2011 academic
year. We are very proud of the fact that
we can offer so many scholarships, but
admittedly, we would like to be able
to offer scholarships of higher value
to our students, so there is still a great
deal of work to be done.
Please keep in mind that financial
support for the CVM can come in
many forms. In addition to current
cash gifts, contributions can also be
made through assets such as stocks,
bonds, and real estate, and if these
gifts have significantly appreciated in
value, the tax consequences of these
gains can be avoided by contributing
them to the college.
For those of you who are concerned
about the minimal returns from fixed
Dr. O.J. “Bubba” Woytek & Dr. Guy A. Sheppard
income investments, the Development
Office can show you some attractive
interest rates on gift annuities that are
currently being offered by the Texas
A&M Foundation.
Finally, if any of you would like to
learn more about making planned
gifts to benefit you and your loved ones
after your life, there are some very innovative
methods available. We would
be happy to show you some of these
opportunities, so please let us know if
you have an interest in learning more
about any of these subjects.
Thank you again for your support.
Please come to visit us whenever you
get a chance or look for us at alumni
receptions at the AVMA meeting, the
North American Veterinary Conference,
the Western Veterinary Conference,
the Southwest Veterinary Symposium,
and the AAEP meeting.
Sincerely,
O. J. “Bubba” Woytek, DVM, ‘65
Assistant Vice President, Development
and Alumni Relations
Guy A. Sheppard, DVM, ‘77
Director, Development
and Alumni Relations