History

In the world of veterinary medical schools, the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM) is a relative newcomer—one of the youngest of 30 in the United States—the creation of which involved multiple decades of political maneuvering to build.

Although the school is somewhat new, the University of Wisconsin–Madison boasts a strong tradition of veterinary science, hiring veterinarians as early as the late 1800s in its Department of Animal Husbandry.

In 1947, the UW Board of Regents passed a resolution that a school of veterinary medicine should be established on campus when adequate funds were available. Thirty-two years passed before the circumstances were right for this to happen. For a variety of reasons, certain regents and politicians opposed the creation of a veterinary medical school. Proposals rode the rollercoaster of politics for decades.In 1911, the university established the Department of Veterinary Science in the College of Agriculture (now the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences). It did not offer a veterinary medical degree, but it quickly gained an international reputation for research and graduate training, a mantle that the school would assume after its creation. The department joined the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges in 1972, the year the organization opened its membership beyond schools and colleges.

In the late 1970s, Acting Gov. Martin Schreiber, Regent Walter F. Renk, the Wisconsin Farm Bureau, and the Wisconsin Veterinary Medical Association put forth great effort in support of opening a school of veterinary medicine. In addition, two key state legislators crafted and championed the legislation that would ultimately establish the school: Rep. Gervase Hephner and Sen. Thomas Harnisch. The state legislature finally established the school in July 1979, and the first class of 80 students was admitted in 1983.