Skip to Main Content

Virginia Tech History Resources: Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine (Vet Med)

This guide details resources intended to help those doing research on the history of Virginia Tech, including the use of Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries, and related resources.

About the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine (Vet Med)

About the  Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine (Vet Med)

After decades of efforts by various factions to establish a School of Veterinary Medicine in Virginia, the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine finally became a reality in 1980. A dean had been appointed in 1974, using the departments of Veterinary Science at Virginia Tech and the University of Maryland as home bases. In 1978, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia approved a plan to establish a regional college to offer a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree. The agreement was officially ratified by the Virginia and Maryland Governors in 1980.

About the Virginia Tech - Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences (VT-WFU SBES)

Formed in 2003, the Virginia Tech - Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences (VT-WFU SBES) is an interdisciplinary graduate program combining the resources of the Wake Forest School of Medicine, the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, and the VA-MD Regional College of Veterinary Medicine.

Online Histories & Exhibits

Vet Med Collections

Record groups may include posters, flyers, photos, organizational records, and more. Materials are divided into assigned Record Groups based on the office, division, or unit and designated by the prefix, RG. For example, materials relating to Vet Med are designated RG 20/x, related materials in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are identified as RG 13/x, and the  Virginia Tech - Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences (VT-WFU SBES) is RG 49/x.

Additional Resources

About Special Collections and University Archives

Virginia Tech's Land Acknowledgement & Labor Recognition

Virginia Tech acknowledges that we live and work on the Tutelo / Monacan People’s homeland, and we recognize their continued relationships with their lands and waterways. We further acknowledge that the Morrill Land-Grant College Act (1862) enabled the commonwealth of Virginia to finance and found Virginia Tech through the forced removal of Native Nations from their lands in western territories. We understand that honoring Native Peoples without explicit material commitments falls short of our institutional responsibilities. Through sustained, transparent, and meaningful engagement with the Tutelo / Monacan Peoples, and other Native Nations, we commit to changing the trajectory of Virginia Tech's history by increasing Indigenous student, staff, and faculty recruitment and retention, diversifying course offerings, and meeting the growing needs of all Virginia tribes and supporting their sovereignty.

Virginia Tech acknowledges that its Blacksburg campus sits partly on land that was previously the site of the Smithfield and Solitude Plantations, owned by members of the Preston family. Between the 1770s and the 1860s, the Prestons and other local White families that owned parcels of what became Virginia Tech also owned hundreds of enslaved people. We acknowledge that enslaved Black people generated wealth that financed the predecessor institution to Virginia Tech, the Preston and Olin Institute, and they also worked on construction of its building. Not until 1953, however, was the first Black student permitted to enroll. Through InclusiveVT, the institutional and individual commitment to Ut Prosim (that I may serve) in the spirit of community, diversity, and excellence, we commit to advancing a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community.

Full and short version of the acknowledgement can be found on InclusiveVT's website.