The Office of Admissions is looking for a small cohort of alumni who are interested in being trained as admissions interviewers and to participate in the admissions interview process this year. V24 interviews will take place over seven days in December, January, and February, and we hope to enlist alumni who can commit to three days. The work would involve reading applications in advance, conducting eight interviews on each day, and completing an evaluation of each interviewee. You will be partnered with a faculty member from the admissions committee, so you wouldn’t be on your own!
If you are interested, please contact Rebecca Russo in the Office of Admissions.
Alumni are invited to join a new pilot program to enhance first-year student advising. The V23 class has been divided into groups of approximately 8 students and a Group Advisor from the faculty has been assigned to each group. Additional faculty advisors have been allocated to groups and we have been invited to join advising teams. Alumni and MVMA volunteers will work with faculty to provide students with advice and support for their first year, and some of these relationships may persist for all four years. This is a pilot program and we will be looking for feedback on what works or does not work at the end of the academic year.
If you are interested, you are asked to commit to one planned event per semester at minimum. The first event is a meeting of the group sometime the week of September 30th ("Student Advising Week") and then a second advising week will be scheduled during the early part of the spring semester (TBD). Students will meet with their advisors as a group or individually during these weeks and your group may decide to have a lunch or dinner, on or off campus. If you are not available for these organized meetings, you may be able to meet with students at another time.
Contact Linda Mayo in the Office of Student Affairs Office if you are interested in participating.
The International Veterinary Medicine program has been sending students abroad since 1982. Our international programs are a hallmark of the IVM experience. These hands-on opportunities offer students the chance to put their knowledge into action, improve technical skills, build an international network, and gain perspective. Often, international projects can be transformative for students, who return to campus to share their lessons with the community.
Contact: Danielle Buczek
This program involves working with groups of children of all ages to provide educational presentations in the community. Volunteers give an age-appropriate presentation (what it’s like to be a veterinarian, pet care, pet first aid, nutrition, dog jobs, behavior, etc.,). On-campus events take about 1 hour to complete. Off-campus program length varies depending on the specific event. Groups are scheduled throughout the year based off community request. This can be a one-time commitment or repeatable presentation options are available.
Contact: Danielle Buczek
Adventures in Veterinary Medicine (AVM) is a career exploration program for middle school, high school, and college students and adults hosted on Cummings School campus. The AVM curriculum includes a variety of classes taught by faculty, staff, students, and community members. Opportunities are available for alumni to join the program as teachers. Presentations usually last one hour. Most are lecture style with PowerPoint support, but interactive components are welcome. This can be a one-time commitment or repeatable presentation options are available, with sessions running from April–August each year.
Paid position $75/hr: http://vetsites.tufts.edu/avm/program-dates/
Contact: Dr. Terry Taylor
Mass 4-H is a youth development program, open to all young people ages 5 through 18 throughout the Commonwealth. Many of you were involved in 4-H growing up but you may not know that 4-H is thriving in Massachusetts! Tufts University conducted a longitudinal study looking at the positive impact of 4-H on youth development and found that 4-Hers were more likely to become active members of their communities, make healthy life choices, choose science/technology based careers, and excel academically. It makes sense for our alum to be more involved with this program! Members are not only involved in animal science programs, but a wide range of other activities including STEM programs, gardening, community service projects and public speaking.
If you are interested in learning more about the MA 4-H program, check out their website:www.mass4h.org. Under club directory you can see what clubs are in your county and usually the email of the group leader. The staff directory has the name of the educator for the county. Opportunities can range from just visiting a 4-H club or fair, giving a talk or involvement as a group leader. The opportunities are endless.
For more information you may contact terrygtaylordvm@gmail.com. A 4-H contact person will follow as well as a more detailed description of potential opportunities and upcoming 4-H events.
Problem Based Learning
Contact: Janine Stuczko
Fall: The groups will meet virtually through the ZOOM platform on Fridays from 1pm-3pm. The dates are: September 18 and 25; October 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30; November 6, 13 and 20.
Year 1 students
Dentistry Week
Contact: Dr. Greg Wolfus
Spring: Two to four full days of teaching during Dentistry week, which is scheduled in late February or early March (3/9/20 to 3/12/20)
Year 3 students
Communications Training
Contact: Dr. Annie Wayne
Fall and Spring: One or 1.5 days communications training for students; must be trained ahead of time (training provided); dates in fall and spring
Year 1-3 students
Small-Group Facilitation in Public Health
Contact: Dr. Marieke Rosenbaum
Fall and Spring: For those involved in public health to discuss their work and career paths; 2-hour sessions; one Monday per month 5-7 PM; spring & fall semesters
MPH students
Tufts Veterinary Orientation Program (TVOP)
Contact: Dr. Lois Wetmore
Facilitate for the whole day at the beginning of the semester (this year it was 8/27/19); must do facilitator training for 2 hours the day before
Year 1 students
Help with Remediation of Clinical-year Students
Contact: Dr. Nick Frank
Ongoing: On an as-needed basis throughout the year; usually two 2-hour sessions one-on-one with the student;
Year 4 students
Contact: Scott Handler
Career chats are interactive, casual, small group chats facilitated by an alum geared towards first- and second-year veterinary students with the goal of exposing students to various career alternatives that are available in the veterinary career field. These chats provide the students insight into how they can begin to develop a framework for planning their veterinary career and gather general career words of wisdom from the alumni community. Students have appreciated the candor and truthfulness of the alumni and the ability to ask questions that are meaningful to them. Alumni can participate in person on the Grafton campus or remotely via WebEx video conferencing system hosted and supported by Tufts.
Contact: Dr. David Schwarz
There are numerous ways that veterinarians can contribute to emergency and disaster management in Massachusetts. On a local level, by joining or starting a Disaster Animal Response Team (DART) provides important subject expertise about caring for animals. The local Medical Reserve Corp (MRC) also needs veterinary support. Basic Animal Rescue Training is a program that has veterinarians teaching First Responders how to appropriately handle and care for animals that they may encounter on their calls. There is training available to participate in this course.
The State of Massachusetts Animal Response Team (SMART) welcomes veterinary participation in its mission to train and prepare the state for all emergencies and disasters using best practices and standard operating procedures to care for all animals in the state.
There are websites for SMART , the MRC, and BART.
There are several feral cat organizations throughout the Commonwealth which hold monthly sterilization and vaccination clinics. Volunteer Surgeons are always needed! Clinics take place at various locations, frequently at MSPCA facility sites (Methuen and Boston) on Sunday mornings.
Contact: Terry at Common Wealth Cats
Merrimac River Feline Rescue Society
Contact: Peggy McQuillan at Sunday Clinic
Lerner Clinic/Sunday Community Cat Clinics
Contact: Dr. Emily McCobb or Nancy Meyer
Opportunities to volunteer with the Lerner Clinic are available through the Tufts Shelter Medicine Program. One Sunday a month, Cummings School hosts a free spay and neuter clinic for qualified Community cats from Worcester County and the surrounding areas. Working alongside veterinary students and volunteers, the high/volume, high/quality clinic is an opportunity to serve in the community while helping future veterinary students. Varying degrees of service involvement are available based on skill level and clinic needs. Veterinary Technicians are particularly needed.
Contact: Annmarie Decker or 508-460-9333
With the horrible mass animal rescue last fall in Westport, MA and the current rescue of 84 Great Danes in New Hampshire, we are seeing an increase in demand for emergency veterinary care. The ASPCA, MSPCA, ARL and others, along with our state agencies, perform yeoman’s work saving animals every day but they cannot do it alone. Please let us know if you could be contacted to help in the future.
If interested, please email us, indicating availability in the following categories:
Contact: Dr. Bob Labdon or Dr. Jay Merriam
Tired of the routine of everyday practice? Want to stretch your professional skills and give back to a world that really needs you? Feel the need to learn on the fly? Collaborate with colleagues, students, and friends while making new ones, all while immersed in a vibrant, colorful culture?
For the past 25 years, a volunteer veterinary team composed of large and small animal veterinarians, technicians and students have made biannual trips to the Samaná peninsula of the Dominican Republic to conduct intense one-week clinics.
We spay/neuter/vaccinate the dogs and cats, and castrate, de-worm and provide care to the working horses. Our team partners with the local veterinarians and caregivers serving the lush, tropical region of Samaná. Large and small animal veterinarians, as well as technicians and students, are needed for upcoming teams.
Interested? For a life-changing, fun week visit the Project Semana website.
Contact: Dr. Greg Wolfus
Tufts at Tech is an innovative teaching facility for students at Cummings School and students at Worcester Technical High School. Under the leadership of Drs. Greg Wolfus and Jenni Grady, the Tufts at Tech student-run veterinary clinic provides low-cost care for financially-qualified family pets within Central Massachusetts’ underserved communities. Fourth-year DVM candidates and Worcester Technical High School students within the Veterinary Assisting program work collaboratively under the direction of experienced veterinarians and certified veterinary technicians to provide quality primary care for underserved community pets. Volunteer veterinarians are routinely needed to assist fourth-year students work through general practice cases! Volunteers can volunteer for a single day or on a routine basis. Regardless, alum should visit this clinic and be proud of the great work taking place in the both the Tufts veterinary education and in the Worcester community!
Volunteer Requirements: MA license, proof of health insurance, CORI report through Worcester public schools
http://cummingsvoices.tufts.edu/2016/08/team-work-makes-the-dream-work-at-tufts-at-tech/
Contact: Dr. Emily McCobb
The Worcester Veterinary Outreach project aims to help at risk human and animal populations. Twice a week during the school year a handful of Cummings School and Becker students, under the supervision of volunteer practicing veterinarians and faculty from the two schools, hold free clinics at Worcester Housing Authority (WHA) sites throughout the city. Cummings School has partnered with Becker College and WHA to provide preventive care, routine check-ups, care for minor infection or skin issues and vaccinations to those without access to veterinary care. The pet care team sees an average of about 500 patients each year, and offer vouchers for important services that can’t be offered on site, such as spaying and neutering. They also offer services for the vulnerably housed to have their pets seen at The Mustard Seed soup kitchen and St. John’s Food for the Poor soup kitchen and food pantry a few times each semester. Volunteer veterinarians undergo a brief training, which includes shadowing current staff for one clinic, and must agree to follow clinic SOPs. Spanish speaking veterinarians are highly needed. Time commitments may vary based on need and availability.
http://www.telegram.com/news/20161204/veterinary-students-bring-pet-care-to-those-in-need
Contact: Erin King
Throughout the year there are a number of opportunities to promote STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) throughout the community. Volunteers work in teams to bring interactive and creative activities to students, combining a passion for animals with STEM education goals. There is a great desire for project expansion which is dependent upon more volunteers! On-going programs include the list below:
Blackstone Valley STEM Conference in the fall. Around 100+ children come to campus for an all day event filled with workshops and presentations from community members.
Contact: Julia Wills
Thousands of people visit Cummings School’s beautiful North Grafton, MA campus each September to learn about the different aspects of veterinary medicine. This annual event is geared to people of all ages. Alumni are welcome to participate in this event and share their veterinary experience and perspective with the public. For more information, visit the Open House website.
Contact: Nicole Becich
The Cummings Spanish Club is a student-run group that aims to promote and provide bilingual education and cultural awareness, as well as community diversity, support, and inclusivity. Activities include bilingual wet labs, lunch talks from Spanish-speaking faculty, working with Cummings Hosts International to provide contacts for Spanish and Latin American visitors to the veterinary school, encouraging students to get involved as student translators for the Foster Hospital for Small Animals, and arranging student translators for clients through the Worcester Housing Authority pet wellness services provided through Tufts. Students are often involved with the unaffiliated but related Veterinary Medical Spanish Selective, a language class specifically for Spanish medical language, open to all past and current Tufts students and faculty. This class is currently taught by Chris Feder, a local Spanish teacher. In the future, we would like to get students and alumni more involved at Tufts at Tech and in the larger Spanish-speaking communities around Worcester, as well as set up regular conversation groups and collaborations with partnering schools and clinics in Barcelona, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and others.
Contact: Dr. Lisa Freeman
Tufts Paws for People provides education, evaluation, and mentorship for individuals looking to visit facilities with their pet. The program has grown to include over 100 animal/handler teams, who visit a variety of programs including elder care facilities, hospice centers, at-risk youth, adult and adolescent mental health care, hospitals, public schools, libraries, and others. Opportunities to volunteer include:
Additional requests sporadically arise for volunteer veterinarians, including veterinary presentations at primary/secondary schools throughout the state, for events such as Scouting days, Summer Library Programs, Career Fairs. Please contact the Alumni Office if you would like to be directly contacted when these roles are requested.