AAVMC History

Prior to the creation of the AAVMC, the deans of the colleges worked closely with the AVMA on academic matters and met informally as the Association of Deans of American Colleges of Veterinary Medicine during the AVMA’s annual convention.

AAVMC was chartered as an independent nonprofit corporation in Illinois in 1966. That was the same year the federal government passed the transformational Veterinary Medical Education Act. Founding members included all of the 18 U.S. colleges and three Canadian colleges then in existence. The deans of the colleges were designated as the member representatives. That same year, by-laws were drafted to extend membership to departments of veterinary science. The origins of AAVMC’s Comparative Data Report trace back to these earliest days of the organization’s founding.

The deans quickly recognized that the association needed a voice in Washington to build support from Congress and executive agencies like the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and former NIH staffer and AVMA employee W. Max Decker was contracted to address that work. Decker would become the first formal AAVMC employee when he signed on as part- time director and treasurer in 1977.

In 1972, the AAVMC Assembly was created and the organization was reorganized into a tri-cameral structure. It consisted of three Councils: the Council of Deans, the Council of Chairs (department chairs), and the Council of Educators (individual faculty). That year was also the first year of the Iverson Bell Symposium, which was designed to enhance diversity in veterinary medicine.

The first major corporate support for AAVMC occurred in 1975, when Merck Chemical Division provided $10,000 to support its initiatives.

In 1984, AAVMC was reorganized again. The tri-cameral structure was eliminated, new by-laws were drafted, and a board of directors with an executive committee was established. The need for a formal presence in Washington remained paramount.

In 1986, a permanent Washington office was established and Billy Hooper, former associate dean for academic affairs at the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine, was named the first full-time executive director. It was a giant step forward that raised AAVMC’s national visibility and increased program development

That move positioned academic veterinary medicine to effectively engage with the Pew National Veterinary Education Program, a transformational strategic planning and diversity program operated by the charitable trust for academic veterinary medicine from 1987–1989.

Since then, AAVMC has partnered with allied organizations on several major national initiatives established to foster progress in veterinary medicine, including the National Commission on Veterinary Economic Issues, the North American Veterinary Medical Education Consortium, and others.

The national common application service, known today as VMCAS, was launched in 1995. On April 25, 1997, AAVMC was re-incorporated in Washington, D.C. Since then, the organization has grown rapidly in scope and impact.