College of Veterinary Medicine

The mission of the Department of Veterinary Biosciences is to conduct research and pursue scholarly activities in the basic and applied veterinary medical sciences with the dual goals of discovering and disseminating knowledge for the education of professional and graduate students, and for the general benefit of veterinary medicine and society.

The mission of the department is accomplished through three activities: education, research, and service.

• Strategic Plan
• Patterns of Departmental Administration

Education Mission

The education mission of the Department of Veterinary Biosciences is to organize and teach basic and selected applied/clinical veterinary medical sciences in the professional curriculum. Equally important is the mission to educate graduate students by providing experienced graduate advisors, state-of-the-art laboratory facilities, and programs for graduate education, and to provide medical specialty training. Departmental faculty members have consistently provided leadership in basic sciences education within the professional curriculum.

Among the basic sciences, anatomy, infectious disease, pathology, biochemistry, endocrinology and physiology are major subject areas. Our faculty members contribute a significant amount of teaching in the professional degree Core and Elective Curriculum. During the 2000-2001 academic years, the faculty provided team leadership for 73% of the core curriculum courses (16 of 22 courses), and 56% of credit hours (75 of 135 credit hours) for years 1-3. Veterinary Biosciences faculty also participated in 58% (21 of 36) of the non-clinic core courses. In the elective curriculum Veterinary Biosciences faculty teach 15 of 61 courses and 330-370 out of 1330-1640 teaching hours. This strong commitment to the educational mission of the College will continue as the Department develops strategic plans that emphasize innovative quality educational approaches to teaching.

Many VBS faculty participate in clinical services, which include hematology/cytology, clinical chemistry, surgical biopsy, necropsy, immunohistochemistry, mouse phenotyping, molecular diagnostics, and flow cytometry. These services have been organized into five core units that contribute substantially to the research and teaching missions of the college and university. VBS faculty members also contribute their time and effort to a wide variety of professional services, such as grant reviews (NIH, USDA, and NSF), specialty board examination committees, executive boards of professional organizations, editorial boards and editorship for academic journals, and national advisory panels.

Research Mission

The research mission is to have all faculty engaged in basic, translational or applied research that will generate new knowledge pertinent to their professional disciplines and to enhance the education of veterinary medical and graduate students. The faculty will disseminate knowledge acquired from their research through timely publication, teaching and other scholarly endeavors.

Service Mission

The service mission is expected to encompass clinical laboratory, professional, and administrative services. The clinical laboratories provide diagnostic services to The Ohio State University Veterinary Medical Center and the veterinary medical community in the State of Ohio. These laboratories have a dual function of service and teaching, and are used as a means to educate veterinary medical students and to prepare postdoctoral students for specialty board certification. Professional service is accomplished through dissemination of knowledge to the broad biomedical and veterinary medical communities and to the citizens of the state.

Faculty members are also expected to contribute their time and effort to professional services at the national level to enhance the department's reputation and extend the missions impact beyond the University. These activities include such activities as grant reviews, specialty board examination committees, executive boards of professional organizations, editorial board membership or editorship for academic journals. Administrative service involves active faculty participation in the governance of the department, college, and university.

Faculty development is essential for the department?s missions in education, research, and service to be realized. The department will recruit the finest faculty available in areas of need and opportunity, nurture the career development of new and existing faculty, and maintain an environment that facilitates high-quality scholarly productivity.