The Diversity Council
The Diversity Council at Penn Vet comprises students, faculty, and staff. It is the guiding organization within Penn Vet on initiatives, guidelines, and feedback for the School.
About Student Diversity
Through concentrated efforts at expanding our recruitment efforts and directing scholarship funds to needs-based support, 20 percent of the school's students are now from minorities underrepresented in veterinary medicine.
Student Diversity at Penn Vet
| Class Year | URVM* | Total Class | % URVM* |
| 2023 | 22 |
126 | 17% |
| 2022 |
18 |
122 | 15%
|
| 2021 |
21 |
122 | 17%
|
| 2020 |
17 |
115 | 15%
|
* URVM: The number of underrepresented (URVM) students in US Colleges of Veterinary Medicine.
About Faculty Diversity
Since initiating its Faculty Diversity Action Plan in 2012, Penn Vet has established an Office of Faculty Affairs and Diversity, a Faculty Council to establish guidelines for faculty affairs and diversity issues, continued use of established procedures for best search practices by faculty search committees, continued oversight of every faculty search by a Diversity Search Advisor, Town Hall meetings, lectures and gatherings for faculty and students to address gender issues and diversity in the veterinary profession, and a continued improvement of the SVM standing faculty profile based on gender and ethnicity.
In 2018, 49 percent of the standing faculty was female and 14 percent were minorities. The School of Veterinary Medicine welcomes and accepts diversity in the broadest context so as to recognize, value and learn from all people of varying cultural backgrounds regardless of their race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected class status.
- One of the missions of the Office for Faculty Affairs and Diversity is to foster a respectful, creative, and collaborative environment that will support the faculty, staff and student body, to maximize their contributions to the educational, research, clinical, and service missions of Penn Vet.
- Our goal is to make Penn Vet a more welcoming and diverse institution by devising strategies for attracting exceptional scholars and students, and nurturing their development. Penn Vet’s diversity among its faculty and student body is of paramount importance, because brilliant scholars and students are absolutely essential in keeping the institution become productive, creative, competitive, and successful in its mission to train the next generation of leaders in all fields of Veterinary Medicine.
- Penn’s stature as an eminent and innovative University rests on our conviction, combined with compelling evidence that excellence and diversity go hand in hand. The School of Veterinary Medicine is eager to move decisively forward in building an ever more diverse and eminent faculty, and in fostering an inclusive and equitable community. To that end, the Office for Faculty Affairs has developed an Action Plan for Faculty Diversity and Excellence.
About Penn Vet Alumni
Penn Vet has graduated over 7,000 VMDs with living alumni who currently reside in all 50 state and 17 different countries and represent a variety of backgrounds and experiences. The Office of Alumni Relations supports Penn Vet’s commitment to diversity and inclusivity even beyond graduation.
As part of this commitment, the Penn Vet Alumni Board has created a Vice President for Diversity & Inclusivity who will aim to include alumni in understanding and making diversity a priority. Through the Penn Vet Alumni Board guidance, we hope to engage more alumni that reflect our full alumni population who can also be lead volunteers that speak to various perspectives. Learn more about Penn Vet's alumni board...
Additionally, with the help of alumni volunteers, Alumni Relations has created a new affinity group designated PAVED: Penn Alumni Veterinarians for Equity and Diversity. The goal of PAVED is to create a network of alumni who identify as underrepresented minorities and wish to build a community, develop support systems, and provide opportunities to create connections among alumni and students. Learn more about PAVED...