UMass Amherst Receives State Approval to Offer Bachelor’s Degree in Veterinary Technology
AMHERST, MA – The University of Massachusetts Amherst has received approval from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education to offer a new bachelor of science degree in veterinary technology. The new four-year program, which will include two years of study at the university’s Amherst campus, followed by two years of study at the Mount Ida Campus in Newton, begins this fall.
Current UMass Amherst students have the option to transfer from other animal science majors to veterinary technology this semester. Incoming first-year students will have the option to choose the veterinary technology major beginning in fall 2020. This new degree program represents a re-design of the Mount Ida College veterinary technology program, which UMass Amherst adopted upon the acquisition of the former college’s Newton campus.
“This is the first UMass Amherst degree program designed to incorporate the state-of-the-art facilities at the Mount Ida Campus,” says John J. McCarthy, provost and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs. “By leveraging the large animal facilities in Amherst, the small animal facilities in Newton and the career networks in both locations, the program offers veterinary science students a unique and comprehensive academic and professional development experience.”
Students graduating from the bachelor’s degree program will be prepared for a career as a veterinary technologist working in veterinary clinics or hospitals, assisting in biomedical research or continuing on to graduate school. Hands-on experiences along with diverse internship opportunities will prepare students to graduate into a field in which employment is projected to grow by 19 percent nationally by 2028, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The program is offered by the department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences. The department has a strong commitment to veterinary and biomedical research and to veterinary and animal science undergraduate and graduate education. It is housed in modern research facilities and makes wide use of University-owned farms with working herds of sheep, goats, cattle and horses available for teaching and research. The Mount Ida Campus of UMass Amherst has a state-of-the-art building dedicated exclusively to the veterinary technology program that includes lecture and clinical classrooms, surgical suites and spacious small-animal housing, along with a dedicated and knowledgeable faculty with many years of experience in the veterinary profession.
Other offerings in the department include bachelor degrees in animal science (animal management, biotech and equine science concentrations), pre-veterinary science as well as the veterinary technology program. Students will be able to choose between the bachelor degrees because the majors are designed for ease of transition between them, as students refine their interests and career plans.
About the Mount Ida Campus of UMass Amherst
The Mount Ida Campus of UMass Amherst serves as a center for student experiential learning, industry engagement, academic and research collaboration, and fundraising in Greater Boston, which is home to a plurality of UMass Amherst students and alumni. Acquired from the former Mount Ida College in 2018, the campus exists to connect the state’s flagship public research university to the Greater Boston business community and serves as a secondary instructional site for UMass Amherst, offering an undergraduate program in Veterinary Technology, graduate programs in Statistics and Business and Analytics, and graduate courses in Geographic Information Science and Technology.