Community-centered veterinary medicine education

The College of Veterinary Medicine at Tuskegee University (TUCVM) has a long-standing history of actively placing animal and client care, along with community engagement, at the center of every student’s education. This expansion adds a new small animal teaching hospital and a new preclinical instructional building that will revitalize the campus and enhance animal patient health services.

Beginning with a strategic site and facilities study, Flad collaborated with Tuskegee to develop recommendations for facility investments in alignment with university and TUCVM strategic plans as well as identify priority projects. TUCVM has a critical goal of increasing its current class size from 70 to 80, adding teaching and research faculty, and increasing caseloads for small animal patients, while proportionately increasing administrative, support staff, and space.

Emerging from this process as a key program priority, the small animal teaching hospital is a cutting-edge facility designed to significantly expand TUCVM's clinical capabilities. Spaces for advanced diagnostic and specialty care include modern imaging suites, surgical operating rooms, and intensive care units. Critical support services will be consolidated under one roof, increasing efficiency and faster turnaround times for students and the animals they treat. A modernized reception and waiting area will ease access for the community, which has for decades relied on Tuskegee for animal care that can be hard to find.

The preclinical building is another crucial element with a strong emphasis on supporting student success through the rigors of a professional veterinary medical education. The facility includes clinical skills labs, flexible classrooms, wellness areas, and study and lounge spaces. Together, these new buildings offer 104,000 square feet of modern facilities that will support the next generation of veterinary professionals.

Celebrating its 80-year anniversary in 2025, TUCVM was the first – and remains the only – veterinary medicine program to be established at one of the nation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). This prestigious program has educated over 70 percent of the nation's African American veterinarians. These new buildings represent the first phase of a multi-year plan to grow the TUCVM while allowing it to maintain continuous operations, with the ultimate goal of offering Spectrum of Care service for animal patients within the town of Tuskegee and surrounding communities.