ORO VALLEY, Ariz. — The moment has been a long time coming for the University of Arizona.
This new veterinary program at the UArizona took five years to develop but administrators say plans have been around for over 50 years.
"Colleges of veterinary medicine are accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Associations' Council on Education," Julie Funk said.
Funk's job is to keep the new vet program qualified, she's the college's new dean, coming from the veterinary school at Michigan State University.
"Right now there's about three open positions for every new graduate, so we need new veterinarians to meet the needs of society."
This college is the first and only public veterinary school in Arizona, the only other program is at Midwestern University, a private school in Glendale.
"The building in Oro Valley fit perfectly into what we're doing to make this a college of veterinary medicine like no other," said Walt Klimecki, Associate Dean of Academic Programs.
Unlike most courses taken at UArizona's main campus, the university says these courses won't be a typical lecture in an auditorium.
They're using the space in Oro Valley to give students room to learn, in a clinical setting.
For future students the goal is to keep their classes here on specific days.
"One thing that we are working to avoid is students that have to travel from one location to another within a single day," Klimecki said.
The university says it plans to begin admitting students into it's program starting Fall 2020.
UArizona administrators say the program is expected to be competitive with only 110 students admitted in that first ever class.
