College renews Be The Model® Strategic Plan

As one of the oldest veterinary education institutions in the United States, The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine has a rich history of national and international leadership in education, research, clinical care and service. As the landscape of veterinary medicine continues to shift rapidly, finding ambitious and actionable ways to meet the challenges facing the veterinary profession and academia is paramount in positioning the college for overall success within an ever-changing external environment.

To identify and prioritize the work that lies ahead, the college initiated a faculty and staff-driven process to renew its five-year Be The Model® Strategic Plan, originally implemented in 2017. In assessing the success of the previous plan, the college highlighted the following accomplishments:

• Demonstrated national leadership through curriculum redesign based on the Competency-Based Veterinary Education (CBVE) framework
• Developed and implemented longitudinal assessments (ITERs & EPAs) for fourth-year students
• Secured new state line-item funding to recruit and retain top talent, enhance research and outreach and make veterinary education more accessible and affordable
• Rose from 5th to 4th in USN&WR Rankings (2019) and increased to #6 in World and #3 in US in 2021 QS International Rankings
• Navigated and managed through the pandemic to avoid having to close the Veterinary Medical Center, while maintaining research, teaching & other programs
• Achieved full AVMA-COE Re-Accreditation

“The people of our college community made it possible for us to accomplish so much over the last five years. We have made great progress in all six of our key goal areas, and it would not happen without the talent we have across our college. The renewal of our Be The Model® Strategic Plan ensures that we continue to move in the right direction and support and empower our people to lead the field of veterinary medicine." - Rustin Moore, DVM, PhD, Diplomate ACVS, dean, College of Veterinary Medicine

The strategy renewal process was guided by the Strategy Renewal Steering Committee, a broad and diverse committee of college stakeholders who met several times over the spring and summer to drive the process forward and ensure representation of all aspects of the college community. The first step was to survey all faculty, staff, graduate students, and house officers to gain important perspectives on trends in veterinary medicine and education, as well as areas the college should prioritize, the college’s culture and climate and opportunities for the future.

Paul Hogan, MSHA, helped lead the university-based strategic planning team that collaborated with the college to help create the Be The Model® plan in 2017 and joined the College of Veterinary Medicine in January 2022 as the Director of Strategic Initiatives. Hogan has worked collaboratively with internal stakeholders and external constituents to facilitate the development and translation of the college’s strategic vision into actionable plans that align the structure, resources, and goals in support of the college’s mission and to assess performance and outcomes.

“Input from faculty and staff was foundational to the development of the college’s strategic plan,” said Hogan. “Multiple and frequent engagement opportunities were created throughout the planning process to continue to refine our thinking and incorporate the perspectives of the entire college community, including several town halls, large group meetings, and a series of action planning workshops. Incorporating a wide array of thought leadership into the strategy renewal process enabled us to identify tangible and specific tactics the college could undertake in the first year of the renewed plan,” Hogan said.

Incorporating the perspective of other leaders in veterinary medicine and academia was also a critical component of the renewal process. College leadership engaged with over 20 leaders in private general and specialty practice, industry, other academic leaders, and community partners who shared the college’s focus on issues related to retention, recruitment, and burnout as top priorities coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The renewed strategy will span five years and is currently in the year-one implementation phase. The college’s strategic plan is rooted in our ambition to Be The Model® comprehensive college of veterinary medicine in the world, impacting animal and human health through innovation, collaboration and excellence.