Infusing Diversity into the
Veterinary Curriculum
Inter-institutional Collaboration:
Doing Inclusive Work on the System
Panel: Sandy Amass, Purdue Veterinary Medicine
Kauline Davis, Purdue Veterinary Medicine
Henry Green, Purdue Veterinary Medicine
James Lloyd, CVM Michigan State University
Pat Lowrie, CVM Michigan State University
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Concept
• Fundamental flaws in Bi-annual process
• Southern Region Climate Work
• The Bayer Project
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Inter-institutional Collaboration in
Diversity: The Value
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Collective Experiences
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Inclusive Wisdom
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Shared Resources
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System Impact
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Program Design
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Welcome Lunch and Opening Sessions
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Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Associate Professor,
Princeton University –
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Innovations in Diversity Curriculum Infusion for
Veterinary Medicine Education
Kathy Wong (Lau), Assistant Professor, Western
Michigan University –
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Anatomy of Inter-Cultural Communications
Program
Design (con’t.)
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Billy E Hooper, Professor Emeritus, Purdue University,
School of Veterinary Medicine
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The Historical Perspective: The Iverson Bell Vision –
Where Have We Been; Where Must We Go?
Peter Cowen, Associate Professor, NC State University,
College of Veterinary Medicine and Ronnie Elmore,
Associate Dean, Kansas State University, College of Veterinary
Medicine
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Bench Marks: Current ‘Best’ Practices
Program
Design (con’t.)
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James Lloyd, Associate Dean, Michigan State University
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Assessment: Why This Matters: What do we know; how
will we know we’ve made a difference?
Program
Design (con’t.)
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Tracks – Working Groups
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Charge:
 To develop meaningful examples of activities that may
be infused in the short term (immediately)
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Assess resource needs
Barriers
Additional curricula
Additional personal
Professional development
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Track 1: Basic Sciences – Abnormal/Normal
Track 2: Clinics
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Track 3: Intercultural Communications for Veterinary
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Medicine
Defining
Diversity
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Racial
Ethnic
Gender/gender identity
Sexual orientation
Disabilities
• Career Pathways
• Backgrounds
• Socioeconomic
• Geographic
• Religion
• Age
Pre-Clinical
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Study abroad
Service learning
VOICE
Application and Integration
and Team-based learning
DiSC
Current Practices
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Undergraduate interns
International veterinary
medicine courses
VetCamp
Diverse faculty
Diversity Office in the
College/School
Pre-clinical
New Idea Concepts
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Team-based exercises
Start with orientation
Consider all courses with
groups
Facilitation is key – requires
training
Mix student cohorts if possible
Include conflict management
Survey course on careers in
veterinary medicine
Electives open to graduate
students and faculty from
across campus
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Service learning
As part of clinical skills /animal
handling/ husbandry course
Work with shelters
As part of public health course
Co-curricular activities
State, national, international
Didactic teaching – include
cultural dimension (when, why,
how, who)
Course on multiculturalism
Elective &/or prevet (or equiv.
exp.)
Pre-clinical
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Outcomes
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Representation –
include retention
Competencies
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Pre- and post-test
Develop rubrics
Consider 360-degree
evaluation
Socially aware/engaged
graduates
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Project-based portfolio
Survey graduates
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Key Considerations
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Groups should not be selfselected
Reflective evaluation
Develop a common language
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Would facilitate evaluation
Would allow materials to be
shared
AAVMC role re: KSU course
Clinical
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Identified Problems
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Recurring Themes:
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Lack of diverse clientele in the VTH
modules
Lack of safe environment for discussion
Lack of/missed opportunities for diversity
interactions:
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Amongst staff, technicians, students and faculty
Teaching opportunities to infuse into cases
Clinical (con’t.)
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Where to infuse
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Every year of
curriculum
Pre-veterinary student
curriculum or
associations
Student organizations
State VMAs
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Lack of diverse
clientele/consumers
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Activities:
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Actors work through created
scenarios
Student exchange between
diverse environments
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Teaching hospitals
Private practices
Humane Society
Increase diversity
amongst clientele
Clinical (con’t.)
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Increasing Diversity Interactions
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Activities:
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Student Ambassadors
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Community outreach
Recruitment
Facilitated Communications
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Recorded clientele interactions
Rounds discussions
Grand rounds presentations
Intercultural
Communication
Current Best Practices
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Incorporate critical race theory concepts
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Theories associated with good communication
Why is intercultural communication important
How veterinarian engages pet is just as important as how
they engage client
Discuss how we communicate with and perceptions of
veterinarian, client, animal (context)
“Who won’t make you look like a fool” that’s the veterinarian
we went to-
Intercultural
Communication
Current Best Practices
(con’t.)
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Developed a “standard” course,
presented by experts, that can be
shared among institutions as a
common resource
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Distance (ICE) vs live
Incorporate into existing framework,
so it isn’t additive
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Problem-based learning courses
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Incorporate into accreditation
standards
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Need AVMA assessment tool
Need AAVMC cultural competency
assessment tool
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“Archie Bunker’s neighborhood”–like
activities
Service learning projects
Veterinary Students as One in
Culture and Ethnicity (VOICE)
activities
Infuse into ethics courses
KSU course- Practicing vet med in a
multicultural society
Enhanced Bayer communication
modules
Intercultural
Communication
Current Best Practices
(con’t)
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Client communications activities
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Videotaped with faculty, student,
and psychologist
Use business oriented
examples-
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Mentoring programs
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Faculty student matches
Groups of 4-10 students and 2
faculty with required meetings and
topics to cover
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Address generational issues
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Develop pipeline
Assessment pieces
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How will this impact your bottom
line as a veterinarian
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Pre-post knowledge tests
Reflective writing
Vets willing to provide
experiences for interested
students
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Facilitated dialogues
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Safe Zones-KSU
Intercultural
Communication
Current Best Practices
(con’t.)
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Better utilization of guest
lecturers
Partner with Minority Serving
Institutions – e.g. Historically
Black Colleges and Universities
(HBCUs) and Hispanic Serving
Institutions (HSIs)
Must hold everyone accountable
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Explain expectations during hiring
process
Only hire people with these values
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“We’d love to have you work here,
but only if you believe in these
things.”
Reinforce accountability with
supervisors and peers
•Model Programs
Developing scholar programs-KSU
Access to Animal-Related Careers (A2RC)Purdue
Food Animal VIP- UGA
MSU- Vetward Bound Enrichment Summer
Program
Pre-vet Scholars Bridge ProgramTuskegee
Summer Enrichment and Reinforcement
Program (SERP)-Tuskegee
Boiler Vet Camp-Purdue
Adventures in Veterinary Medicine-Tufts
Resources and Support
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For faculty, graduate students, interns, residents – ALL??
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Training
Access to experts — on and off campus
Tools to assess cultural competency
Faculty Enrichment
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Need to get buy-in
Need additional staff/faculty for facilitating
Train key faculty for group work
Share materials
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Rubrics, Course materials, Best practices
Resources and Support
(con’t.)
• Walk the talk
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Orientation to graduation
Faculty and staff
Diversity in action
• Recognize cultural competence in P/T
• Review/reactivate diversity training
• Financial support
• Linking students with pipeline schools
• Web presence
Immediate Next Steps
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Regional Iverson Bell Summit follow-up
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Obtain leadership buy-in
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Dean, Associate Dean, Curr. Committee
Define a process and objectives
Identify point persons for training
Develop training session for early 2011
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List of participants with contact info.
Presentations
Pre-Conference National Iverson Bell Symposium
Plan for 2012 @ MSU (?)
Immediate Next Steps
(con’t.)
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Inventory of successful programs
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Actively share information
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Present summary at 2011 IB Conference
List-serve for Regional IBSummit participants
AAVMC blog/on-line technology
Include electronic clearinghouse for course
materials, etc.
IB Summit 2012
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Report progress
Short Term
Action Plan-1
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Develop a multi-tactical approach
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Develop content for shared course (resource) on ICC
 Where to infuse
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Every year of curriculum
Pre-veterinary student curriculum or associations
Student organizations
State VMAs
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Letter campaign from student groups encouraging deans to
publically release data from AAVMC Comparative Data
Report
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Cohort groups at each college to get more training in this area
and act as resource for their college and for each other
Short Term
Action Plan - 2
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Develop resource repository
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Emphasize values during admissions process
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Assessment tools
Curricular pieces
Understand cultural differences in preparation for
veterinary students
To select a class that reflects the demographics of
our society, use a holistic admissions approach
Better balance in leadership roles
Short Term
Action Plan - 3
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Assess and document the pipeline for the
reasons below:
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Capture information from wait-list population
Work more closely utilizing information from the
undergraduate admissions process
Capture and utilize data from applicants that were not
admitted in enrichment summer programs and shared
admissions processes
Encourage AAVMC admissions and recruitment
committees to help us think through what happens in
our applicant pool to applicants that were not admitted
Short Term
Action Plan - 4
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Collate Veterinary Leadership Experience
(VLE)-related activities and format as
experiences that colleges can use in curricular
or extracurricular experiences to present
information in forums that include both students
and faculty
Look at vet schools/colleges, other areas
(industry-Pfizer, Disney, military, medical
schools) and identify best practices, training
programs, buy-in, hiring practices, challenges,
and how challenges have been overcome
Short Term
Action Plan - 5
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Explore the unspoken issues for the entire academic
community
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Gender imbalance
Race
Ethnicity
Gender expression (genderoddessey.org)
Sexual orientation
Parents
Geographic separation from support systems
Religious affiliation
Do not assume that every population has the same
needs
Intermediate Term
Action Plan - 1
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Develop standard and assessment tool
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Use existing Council on Education (COE)
communication and other standards
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COE ask what are you doing in terms of ICC
What is your baseline
How will you address current issues
Just by asking you show this is a priority
Comment on standard/ send feedback
Intermediate Term
Action Plan - 2
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Build a diverse population at SVM/CVM to build a
climate conducive to recruitment of faculty, staff, and
students
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Collate best practices as to how to accomplish this
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Use focus groups to get feedback on how welcoming
environment is
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Encourage vets to be positive role models, show them
the value for profession, and give vets tool-kits to
promote profession
Intermediate Term
Action Plan - 3
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Encourage state and professional associations to
push diversity as a driver of excellence and embed
these values in their strategic plans/missions.
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More flexible curriculum so students could move
through at their own pace (3yr-6yr?)
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Write and submit work in this area to peer-reviewed
journals
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Conduct assessment/research
Take-Homes
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We hold these values so important that
they cannot be compromised
We will not accept solutions of
convenience
As we do within our profession around
academic and ethical standards, we need
to hold each other accountable
… and All roads can not lead to Lisa
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Thank you