Swine medicine program gets $700,000
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A swine medicine program will use a $714,000 federal grant to develop a curriculum and become a national center for excellence.
The Iowa State University Swine Medicine Education Center received the money through a Higher Education Challenge Grant from the Department of Agriculture. The grant will be used in a three-year project that will help make the program “a resource for providing unparalleled hands-on opportunities to veterinary students across the United States,” Dr. Locke A. Karriker, the program director, said in the announcement.
Information from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture indicates grant recipients need to match 25 percent of the cost of the grant.
The ISU program provides specialized courses for fourth-year veterinary students, and it admitted its first students in 2011. It has an annual budget of about $500,000, most of which comes from industry and educational fees.
In seeking the grant, ISU officials proposed developing four intensive three-week courses to be offered to 64 veterinary students interested in swine medicine, NIFA information states. They also proposed producing an inventory of swine medicine training across the U.S. and determining how many students who are interested in swine medicine become involved in swine practice.