Save the Date:
Join Us November 13-15 To Celebrate!

It's our annual LSU SVM Family Festival, milestone class reunions, CE opportunities, tours, tailgates and LSU football! Join us on Friday-Sunday, November 13-15, 2020 for a weekend of fun, friends, family and more!
I hope you will all join me in welcoming our newest alumni, the Class of 2020, to the ranks of this distinguished group. This year’s LSU SVM Commencement ceremony, conducted via video, will likely be remembered as the most unique in the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine’s 42-year history of graduating new veterinarians. I commend this graduating class for its fortitude through a flood, snowstorms, construction, and a pandemic. Most graduates have already secured jobs and internships. Some of them are going to work with some of you, Tigers helping Tigers.

Best wishes go out to all of our alumni, some of whom I’ve had the pleasure of conversing with during informal gatherings hosted online in recent weeks by Gretchen Morgan, director of alumni and donor relations. I’ve learned a great deal about your creativity, stamina, and dedication to continue to offer exemplary veterinary services for clients and their animals amid the challenges of our times. Your alma mater is very proud of you.

Here at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, we are making a phased shift back toward full operations. We plan to accept non-emergency cases again near the end of May. We’ve put in place protocols to protect the safety of clients, patients, and the SVM employees as we move ahead. We anticipate the return of students in early August, and we have put plans in place to help ensure their safety and wellbeing as they begin or continue their studies to become veterinarians.

Gretchen has assembled a full year’s worth of exciting alumni events, including reunions and the SVM Family Festival—I look forward to seeing you there. A full calendar of events is included in this newsletter.

Finally, the LSU SVM would not be in the strong position it’s in today without your support. From advocacy to scholarships and clinical support, we appreciate all you do! Thank you for the good you do for your school and on behalf of animals in your communities.
Hi all! I hope this finds everyone safe and well! What strange times we are living in! In speaking to many of you, it appears that most are still working, although in some different fashion-curbside service, rotating shifts, etc. My team is still working as well, although from home since early March. Our hospital has been open for emergencies and chronic cases only, and the students were able to finish classes/clinics through online classes and virtual meetings. We even had to hold graduation virtually, but the finished video product was definitely touching. You can view that here: LSU SVM Virtual Graduation Celebration

While we have had to cancel conferences and in person meetings, I hope we will be able to resume late summer/early fall. I hope to see many of you at the SWVS meeting in Ft. Worth this September! In this newsletter, you will find updates from Dean Joel Baines, our fall/winter calendar (mind you, everything has to be tentative), more information about reunions (final info will follow this summer), alumni updates, plus more.

Please don’t ever hesitate to reach out to me for any of your needs, whether it is a job, an associate, referral help or consults, or anything else for that matter. You will always be a member of the LSU SVM family, and we are here to help.

See you on the road!

Call for Nominations: LSU SVM Alumnus of the Year for 2020
The Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award recognizes alumni of the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine for outstanding professional and personal achievements. It is the highest honor bestowed to alumni by the LSU SVM. Honorees receive an individual plaque and the placement of the honoree’s name on a group plaque in the School of Veterinary Medicine.

Eligibility : Any veterinarian with the DVM degree from LSU.

Criteria : Candidates will be recognized for their accomplishments in veterinary medicine, service to the SVM, and/or contributions to the community through public service. When writing your nomination, consider the nominee’s service to the community, to animals, to people, to the profession, and to the intersections between them.

Selection:  The committee will review nominations and and vote on the recipient(s). The committee reserves the right to not select a recipient every year. The committee will be made up of the Dean, the Associate Dean for Student Affairs, the Associate Dean for Diversity and Faculty Affairs, and two of the past Distinguished Alumnus Award recipients.

Presentation:  The winner will be awarded at the annual winter LVMA meeting during the alumni reception. (Previous award winner, John Kelley, DVM, is pictured here.) 

TO NOMINATE SOMEONE FOR THE AWARD, PLEASE SUBMIT NOMINEE’S NAME AND A LETTER SUPPORTING WHY HE OR SHE IS DESERVING OF THE AWARD. NOMINATIONS ARE DUE BY  OCTOBER 31, 2020.

Nominations may be mailed, faxed or emailed.  

Gretchen Morgan
Director of Alumni and Donor Relations
LSU School of Veterinary Medicine
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Phone (225) 578-9565
Fax (225) 578-9916
Check out the 2020-2021
LSU SVM Calendar of Events
We have several exciting events planned for Fall 2020 and will provide additional details later in the summer.

Thank you!
...for all you do for the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine!

If you are in a position to give, please consider supporting an emergency, scholarship, or excellence fund. Your generosity helps make it possible for us to excel at fulfilling our mission to teach, to heal, to discover, and to protect. We are focusing on funds that support students:

  • LSU School of Veterinary Medicine Philanthropic Partners
  • Veterinary Medicine General Scholarship/Award Fund 
  • Student Life Emergency Support Fund 

You may choose how your gift is utilized, including unrestricted dollars that go where most needed.
You may also mail a check to:
LSU Foundation
3796 Nicholson Dr.
Baton Rouge, LA 70802