A plan to combine veterinary programs will go forward although not everyone at Iowa State is in favor of the proposal. It’s hard to get into the veterinary medicine program at ISU, with enrollment capped at 120 students. That limit would expand by 25 under a plan to have some students take two years at the University of Nebraska and then switch to Iowa State for the final years of their study. In a recent faculty vote, 58 favored the plan, but fifty voted against it, some saying classrooms and lecture halls are already crowded.
The College of Veterinary Medicine plans to hire 27 new faculty and staff members in the next three years, and hopes to move up from its current 17 ranking in the nation to the top ten among “vet-med” schools by the time tuition-paying Nebraska students enroll in 2009.