1891 - Dr. Olaf Schwartzkoff starts a Veterinary College at the U of M. The college is disbanded the following year.
1893 - The College of Agriculture establishes a Division of Veterinary Medicine.
1904 - The Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory opens.
1916 - The University of Minnesota begins a Division of Veterinary Medicine in the College of Agriculture.
January 1947 - World War II Veterans Glen Nelson, Ithel Shipper, and Walter Mackey meet with Minnesota legislators about establishing a School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Minnesota.
April 1947 - The Minnesota State Legislature allocates funds to establish the School of Veterinary Medicine.
September 1947 - The new School of Veterinary Medicine welcomes its first 24 students.
1949 - Researchers invent a new diagnostic test for brucellosis, commonly known as Bang's disease, in dairy cows. By 1959, brucellosis is virtually eliminated.
1950 - Construction of the school's first permanent structure, the animal hospital building, is complete and ready for occupancy at the start of the school year. Peters Hall, a new animal and poultry husbandry building, is also completed.
1950s - Veterinary pathologist William J. Hadlow conducts experiments that link neurological disorders in animals and people. These findings lay the groundwork for uncovering the cause of diseases collectively known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs).
1952 - The Veterinary Science building is constructed.
1952 - Griselda “Bee” Hanlon and JoAnne Schmidt O'Brien become the first women graduates of the School of Veterinary Medicine.
1957 - The School of Veterinary Medicine becomes the College of Veterinary Medicine and is granted full accreditation by the American Veterinary Medical Association. It is the 11th college of veterinary medicine in the United States.
1958 - New research opportunities open up with the acquisition of 133 acres of land and buildings in Rosemount, Minn.
1960 - With the help of a U.S. Public Health Service grant, the College acquires the first electron microscope to be used in an American veterinary college.
1960 - Hog cholera is eliminated through the work of Dr. Howard Kernkamp.
1963 - Researchers help eliminate infectious sinusitis, a respiratory disease in turkeys.
1970-1981 - The Minnesota Disease Reporting System is developed and validated by Drs. Stanley L. Diesch, Donald Johnson, Frank W. Martin, and L. T. Christensen. The System becomes the prototype for the national Disease Reporting System of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
1970 - An Academic Health Sciences unit was created at the University of Minnesota, which includes the College of Veterinary Medicine.
1973 - The College is reorganized into two departments and adopts constitution and bylaws.
1974 - Dr. Gary Duke and Dr. Pat Redig co-found The Raptor Center. Little is known about avian fracture repair and anesthesia. Today, the orthopedic surgery and soft-tissue management techniques developed for birds at The Raptor Center are the standard throughout the world.
1976 - The Animal Science/Veterinary Medicine building opens. The College reorganizes into five departments.
1979 - A group of veterinary students establish the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic.
1980s - Dr. Stephanie Valberg discovers polysaccharide storage myopathy, a muscle disease in horses. Her combination of diet and exercise routines now benefits thousands of horses.
Early 1980s - Researchers develop PigCHAMP (computerized health and management program) for swine data collection to aid research. Today, the product is the most widely used farm software package for tracking swine production and producers in 55 countries worldwide.
1980s - Dr. Robert K. Anderson co-invents the Gentle Leader head collar for dogs with trainer Ruth Foster. The head collar revolutionizes the management of behavior in pets in a humane, yet effective way. The device is later featured at the Smithsonian Institution as one of the 100 best inventions of the 21st century.
1981- Dr. Carl Osborne establishes the Minnesota Urolith Center to investigate the causes, cures, and prevention of urolithiasis. The Center develops a diet manufactured by Hill's Pet Nutrition that dissolves urinary stones in cats and dogs, decreasing the need for surgery and preventing deaths.
1981 - The Feline Health Center is established, bringing faculty together from various departments to study cat diseases.
1981 - Dr. R.K. Anderson launches the Center for Human-Animal Relationships and Environments (CENSHARE) to focus on research, education, and outreach related to the human-animal bond.
1982 - Dr. Al Leman founds the Swine Center. The center offers a focal point for research and links the College, the practice community, and producers.
1983 - The Lewis Hospital for Companion Animals opens with a donation from legislator Robert Lewis.
1985 - The Raptor Center develops a diagnostic test for aspergillosis, the most common fatal disease of birds of prey.
1986 - Women become the majority component of the freshman class.
1986 - Students begin taking an animal behavior course as part of the core veterinary curriculum.
1986 - The Veterinary Historical Museum opens in the Veterinary Science building.
1987 - A task force at the University recommends closing of the College of Veterinary Medicine. The proposal fails.
1987 - The Veterinary Teaching Hospital creates PARTNERS, a membership organization for clients who support the hospital services.
1988- Benjamin Pomeroy lays the foundation for the control and eradication of several turkey diseases. Bolstered by research conducted at the University under Pomeroy's leadership, poultry disease mortality in Minnesota will drop from 25 percent in the 1930s to eight percent in 2004.
1988 - Dr. Jagdev Sharma becomes the first faculty member to hold the Benjamin S. Pomeroy endowed chair.
1991 - The College enters into a formal affiliation with the Department of Animal Science in the College of Agriculture to promote collaborative efforts.
1991 - After a worldwide outbreak of porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome (PRRS), Jim Collins, director of the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, develops a PRRS vaccine. Now the largest-selling veterinary vaccine in the world, it protects the majority of U.S. swine from the disease. The laboratory is the first in the nation to provide high-volume, same-day testing for PRRS.
1992 - The new Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory opens with $7.9 million in funding from the legislature.
1994 - Barbara O'Leary (class of 1976) becomes the first woman president of the Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association.
1995 - A Food Animal Biotechnology Center (FABCenter) is created as a focal point for molecular biology and genome mapping research and its application to improving food production.
1999 - Researchers in the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory identify the first European-like strain of porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome in North America.
2001 - In collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Dr. Vivek Kapur leads a team that completes the genome sequence of mycrobacterium paratuberculosis, the bacterium that causes Johne's disease in cattle.
2001- Dr. Vivek Kapur, director of the Advanced Genetic Analysis Center, leads a team of researchers to sequence the genome of Pasturella multocida, a bacterium that causes disease in poultry, cattle, swine, and humans. The breakthrough represents the first entire genome sequence of a veterinary pathogen.
2001- The Center for Animal Health and Food Safety is established. With the terrorism attack of Sept. 11, 2001, the first year of operation sees activity related to terrorism, anthrax, agroterrorism, and biosecurity.
2002 - The Transition Management Facility (TMF) is launched in partnership with Baldwin and Emerald Dairies. The TMF gives veterinary students hands-on experience with large populations of dairy cows in the weeks before and after giving birth.
2000 - Scientist Carrie Mahlum develops the first test to detect bovine viral diarrhea, which costs the beef and dairy industries thousands of dollars each year.
2003 - Dr. Sagar Goyal develops a vaccine to help stop the spread of a severe respiratory disease caused by avian pneumovirus.
2003 - Dr. Kent Reed creates a first-generation map of the domestic turkey genome, helping breeders produce healthier turkeys.
2004 - The University of Minnesota receives the two largest grants ever to be awarded for animal disease research from the United States Department of Agriculture, Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service. Totaling $8.8 million, the grants will fund research on Johne's disease in cattle and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome in swine, both having a devastated effect on agriculture economy.
2004 - Dr. Mitchell Abrahamsen and other researchers complete sequencing of Crytosporidium parvum, and intestinal parasite that affects humans and animals. It is considered a major public health threat for which there is no known treatment or prevention.
2004 - Drs. Stephanie Valberg and Jim Mickelson identify an inherited disease in American quarter horses and related breeds call glycogen branching enzyme deficiency.
2004 - U of M named one of three national Homeland Security Centers of Excellence and received a 3-year, $15 million grant to develop ways to protect the nation's food supply from deliberate contamination or terrorist attack.
January 2005 - Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory dedicates molecular diagnostic laboratory renovation funded with $1.5 million appropriation from the legislature.
College of Veterinary Medicine Deans
1947-1952 Dr. Williard L. Boyd
1952-1953 Dr. Martin H. Roepke
1953-1954 Dr. H.C.H. Kernkamp
1954-1972 Dr. W.T.S. Thorp
1972-1973 Dr. Dale K. Sorensen
1973-1978 Dr. Sidney A. Ewing
1979-1980 Dr. Benjamin S. Pomeroy
1980-1988 Dr. Robert H. Dunlop
1988-1998 Dr. David G. Thawley
1998- Dr. Jeffrey S. Klausner
Dated: 2/05