Visiting lecturers
The WCVM Visiting Lecturer and Visitorship program brings in a steady stream of prominent clinicians, researchers and resource people from all over the world to Western Canada. These visitors enhance the college's undergraduate and graduate teaching programs, its research program, and its clinical and diagnostic services. On occasion, they also support continuing education programs for western veterinary medical associations.
A general, college-wide public lecture is not necessarily required of visitors selected under the D.L.T. Smith Visitorship or the Rausch Visiting Professorship programs.
Please note: We are not accepting applications for M.M. Kaye, Rutherford or O’Donoghue lectures for the 2017-18 academic year.
The D.L.T. Smith Lecture is one of the most prestigious events of the academic year that's delivered annually in honour of the founding dean of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine. The nominee shall have an outstanding reputation related to veterinary medicine, very broadly defined. The topic of the D.L.T. Smith Lecture is expected to be suitable for a diverse audience including students, faculty, clinical associates, support staff and private practitioners.
The D.L.T. Smith Visitorship Program provides support for visiting scientists and professors to facilitate short- and long-term working visits to the WCVM. The funding will help assist WCVM faculty in attracting esteemed researchers and/or professors with the ultimate goal of enriching WCVM’s scholarly, academic, clinical and service programs.
Through this program, visiting lecturers normally spend two to 10 days at the WCVM and are expected to become closely involved in the teaching, research and/or service programs. The WCVM can arranges up to four of these visitorships per year.
Visitors normally spend two months or more at the WCVM. The visitorship is targeted at visiting professors on sabbatical leave from their home institutions who are facilitating work with a research group or WCVM faculty. Although a maximum funding limit per visitor is not enforced, the D.L.T. Smith fund is not sufficient to support the entire stay of a long-term visitorship. However, it will provide a monthly honorarium to help cover expenses. The WCVM can arrange up to two long-term visitorships per year.
Held biennially, this lecture series commemorates the life of Canada's first Veterinary Director General. Nominees should be distinguished people in any discipline associated with animals or veterinary medicine. Speakers normally spend two or three days at the college.
The Michael Moxon Kaye Memorial Lecture is held biennially to commemorate Dr. Kaye, the college's first radiologist. Traditionally, the visiting lecturer has some association with veterinary medical imaging but individuals with a broader interest in veterinary medicine can be supported. Visits normally last for two or three days.
The Robert and Virginia Rausch Visiting Professorship facilitates visits by distinguished scientists in the areas of parasitology, zoonotic diseases or wildlife diseases. Dr. Rausch, a world-renowned parasitologist and mammalogist, was formerly professor of veterinary microbiology at the WCVM. The professorships were established by Dr. Rausch and his wife.
This lecture series was established in 1981 in honour of the late Dr. O'Donoghue, former Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Government of Alberta. It supports lectures at the University of Alberta and the WCVM by outstanding veterinarians or scientists in related fields.
Veterinary Education Today
The Veterinary Education Today (VET) conference and medical exposition is a low-cost, high-quality continuing education (CE) conference for veterinary professionals across Canada. Based on a partnership between Diversified Communications Canada and the WCVM, the three-day conference's CE program is developed by a planning committee at the veterinary college.
The conference's focus is on providing sessions that are relevant to everyday, practical situations in the veterinary field. The conference's program also offers quality content that will help to enrich professional development.
Additional CE events
Each year, WCVM helps to organize continuing education courses or seminars for specialized practitioner associations. Based on demand, the veterinary college also organizes and offers CE events that target certain species or disciplines. For example, the WCVM hosts a popular ultrasonography and embryo transfer workshop every two years.