Skip to main content

Business and Entrepreneurship

Skills for business and entrepreneurship have become increasingly important in veterinary medicine. They provide critical preparation for success in clinical practice management and for expanding leadership opportunities in industry, international development and global public health.

By following the guidelines established in our 2018-2022 Strategic Plan, including establishing the Center for Veterinary Business and Entrepreneurship, we have worked to support student and faculty entrepreneurship, to reduce student debt and to enable graduate financial independence.


Center for Veterinary Business and Entrepreneurship logo

After the launch of the Center for Veterinary Business and Entrepreneurship in early 2019, the college focused on four key subject areas to prepare students for practice ownership and other business realities: education, economic research, entrepreneurship and intrepreneurship.

Ways the center has met these goals over the last year:

  • Filled three faculty positions to support the center
  • Offered seven business courses: two distribution standalones, one competency within a summer course, three distribution collaborations, one Foundation Course VII collaboration
  • Expanded relationships with seven corporate partners: Encore Vet Group, Banfield Pet Hospital, Boehringer Ingelheim, IDEXX, Nestle Purina, VitusVet and Zoetis
7
business courses offered, including standalones, collaborations and a competency
3
new faculty members


Animal Health Hackathon

153
students
35
mentors
7
sponsors
$8K
cash prizes awarded
A group of students wearing red Animal Health Hackathon shirts are seated in Lecture Hall 4, brainstorming as a team for the event


CVM Graduates Debt to Starting Salary Ratio

The following table and bar chart display the mean self-reported educational debt ratio to private practice starting salary over a 10-year period. It includes those with no debt and excludes advanced education and training. The data is from an AVMA survey taken one month before graduation.

Year Ratio
2011 1.84
2012 2.01
2013 1.9
2014 1.96
2015 1.77
2016 1.82
2017 1.59
2018 1.79
2019 1.36
2020 1.56
A bar chart representation of the data in the previous table describing the CVM graduate debt-to-salary ratio