I would like to offer a brief update to our faculty, staff, students, clients and friends, pertaining to COVID-19 and its effect upon our college’s operations. I want each of you to know how grateful I am for your patience, empathy, and dedication to our mission. I am so proud of our college community’s response to this situation. However, I know many of you are urgently seeking answers, so I will cut to the chase. There are many unknowns, but here is what we do know as of this writing.
- The University of Missouri has shifted to all online learning through the end of the spring semester.
- The CVM didactic courses will be taught online. We are encouraging our faculty to implement asynchronous teaching.
- Didactic labs will not resume immediately following spring break. At this time, we do not know when they will resume. As soon as we can resolve this situation, we will notify all students. If there is any possibility of reinstating labs this spring semester, we will. We will provide ample notice to allow students who leave Columbia to return to campus.
- Procedures at the Veterinary Health Center have changed to include the outside doors being locked 24/7, clients being screened for potential COVID-19 exposure, and non-essential appointments being rescheduled. These measures are to help protect the health of our students, hospital staff and clients, and to conserve necessary resources that may become scarce in the near future.
Many additional decisions regarding teaching and clinical operations will need to be customized to accommodate individual classes, rotations, and services. I am confident that our course leaders, directors, and section chiefs are implementing plans that are in the best interest of our students, clients, and patients. Situations are not ideal, but all are making the best of a difficult situation.
Please bear in mind that the situation is changing rapidly. We are striving to be both agile and responsible in how we approach each new challenge.
Again, thank you for all you do for the college and for each other. We will need to be creative, we will need to adjust to changes along the way, and we will need to support one another. But I have no doubt we can do this and emerge stronger than before.
Gratefully,
Carolyn
The MU College of Veterinary Medicine is Missouri’s only institution that confers the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree. Thank you for exploring how you can partner with us to make a positive difference in the lives of animals and people.