I2C

Innovate. Invest. Communicate.

LSU Vet Med is embarking upon a comprehensive and sustained initiative to grow in excellence, reputation, and service to the veterinary medical profession. I write to not only share the plan with you but also to ask that you consider the ways in which you help us achieve our aims. 

We are calling this important initiative: 

I2C / Innovate, Invest, Communicate 

a bold roadmap for growth 

This initiative is built upon the following imperatives: 

INNOVATE 

We think beyond conventional paradigms to deliver outstanding world-firsts in teaching, healing, discovery, and protection—to better lives. 

INVEST 

We generate novel funding capacity by augmenting state support, philanthropy, self-generated revenue, and extramural research grants to enable continued investment in our people, programs, and facilities—to drive growth. 

COMMUNICATE 

We message our successes in an energetic, relentless, and multimodal manner to raise our state, regional, national, and international visibility as an academic powerhouse—to elevate reputation. 

We already have what it takes to claim our place among the best in veterinary medicine. We simply need to take some bold steps to get us there. 

One of the first steps toward accomplishing our imperatives is to increase our student cohort size. Doing so in response to the call from our profession will result in us graduating more veterinarians to help reduce the shortage – felt at the state, national, and international levels – while fulfilling all our important missions. This will allow us to reinvest in our people, programs, and facilities so that we can rise to the ranks of the very best in our profession.

Make no mistake, growth of this magnitude will require much of us. There will be bumps along the road to growth. There will be growing pains. And yet, we will achieve our goals when we share a common understanding and work together toward the common good. We can do this! 

You will hear more about I2C / Innovate, Invest, Communicate in the coming weeks. 

In the meantime, I extend my deepest gratitude for the role you play every day in the life of LSU Vet Med. 

Warm wishes, 

Oliver A Garden BVetMed PhD FHEA FCPP FRCVS DACVIM DECVIM-CA

Kenneth Burns Endowed Chair in Veterinary Medicine

Dean, School of Veterinary Medicine