ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½

Dear Racer Alumni,

ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ needs your help.

During this 2025 Kentucky Legislative Session, we are asking the General Assembly to allow ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ to offer a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine (DVM). Currently, there is a statute in place that prohibits the University from offering a DVM degree - KRS 164.295.

Please contact your Kentucky House and Senate members and ask them to pass , which if passed by both the House and Senate, would amend KRS 164.295 and allow the University to offer a DVM.

where you can find your respective Kentucky House Representative and Senate Representative by entering your home address. 

Each legislator has an email address listed on their individual biography page where you can send an email (sample email below). You can also contact your legislator via the Legislative Message Line at 1-800-372-7181 and leave a message for them and ask that they please vote YES on House Bill 153.

It is vitally important to our efforts that you please contact your legislator as soon as possible as this is only a 30 day Legislative Session, ending on March 28, 2025.

For more information about this initiative, please view our 2025 Legislative Priorities Document.

We will continue to update you on this bill as it moves throughout the legislative process.

If needed, here are a few bullet points when contacting legislators about House Bill 153:

• Please Vote Yes on House Bill 153
• This bill simply allows ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ to begin the process to offer a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine (DVM).
• According to the recent feasibility study by Deloitte, 80 out of 120 Kentucky counties are identified as either having a veterinary shortage or is an underserved rural area in need of additional veterinarians.
• ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ has been trying to obtain legislative approval to offer a DVM for over 50 years, however the statute KRS 164.295 currently prohibits this.
• There is a tremendous shortage and need for more veterinarians in our state, particularly large animal veterinarians and especially in rural areas.
• House Bill 153 will allow ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ to begin the process of assisting with the large animal veterinarian shortage, particularly in rural Kentucky.

Resolution passed by ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½AA Board of Governors

On October 18, the 19-member ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ Alumni Association (ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½AA) Board of Governors voted unanimously during the Fall 2024 biannual board meeting to draft a Resolution of Support asking the Kentucky General Assembly to allow ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ to offer a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine (DVM). The passage of this legislation would thus allow the University to create what would become Kentucky's only School of Veterinary Medicine. At that time, a committee was formed to craft the content of the resolution. 

Committee members included ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½AA President Scott Grant ('07, '08), Board of Governors members Brian Edwards ('06) and Josh Tubbs ('04, '06), and ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ Director of Alumni Relations Carrie McGinnis ('20). Once the draft was approved by committee, language for the resolution also passed the full Board of Governors unanimously via electronic vote. 

The ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½AA Resolution of Support was sent by President Scott Grant to all members of the Kentucky General Assembly on Wednesday, Dec. 18.