Texas Tech veterinary school marks second graduating class: full analysis
Texas Tech University’s School of Veterinary Medicine has marked another early milestone: its second graduating DVM class. On May 17, 2026, the Amarillo-based school awarded 80 veterinary degrees, up from 61 in its inaugural graduating class a year earlier, according to Texas Tech materials indexed on the school’s official site. (depts.ttu.edu)
That growth matters because Texas Tech is still a young program. The school opened with a mission centered on high-quality, affordable veterinary education, with a specific emphasis on One Health, general practice, and care in rural and regional communities. Its DVM curriculum is built around three years in Amarillo followed by a fourth-year clinical experience in a community-based Clinical Learning Network, largely in Texas. (depts.ttu.edu)
The graduation also lands after a key institutional milestone. Texas Tech says the School of Veterinary Medicine received full accreditation from the AVMA Council on Education in October 2025, with the next site visit anticipated in 2032. On the same accreditation page, the school reports a 97% NAVLE pass rate for its 2025 class of 61 graduates, above the 80% two-year threshold the COE requires to maintain good standing. (depts.ttu.edu)
In practical terms, the school is trying to prove it can do more than graduate veterinarians; it wants to shape where they practice. Texas Tech’s mission statement explicitly calls for education that emphasizes general veterinary practice in rural and regional communities, and its DVM overview says students receive hands-on training with a special focus on primary veterinary care. That aligns with the rationale long used to support the school’s creation in Amarillo, where leaders argued that Texas needed another veterinary program focused on rural and large-animal service. (depts.ttu.edu)
Industry and policy signals suggest that focus still resonates. In 2022 testimony to the Texas Senate committee on water, agriculture, and rural affairs, then-Texas Veterinary Medical Association Immediate Past President Steven Golla said the shortage of rural and food-animal veterinarians was harming rural economies and noted that both Texas A&M’s VERO program and the new Texas Tech school were focused on producing graduates interested in large-animal work. Separately, the Texas Animal Health Commission’s Rural Veterinarian Incentive Program lists Texas Tech and Texas A&M DVM students and recent graduates as eligible for tuition or loan-repayment support in exchange for service in designated rural counties. (tvma.org)
Texas Tech has also been building the infrastructure around that workforce mission. In December 2025, the school announced a $250,000 USDA Veterinary Services Grant to develop its first food-animal residency program, which it said is intended to strengthen veterinary services in rural and agricultural communities and launch in 2026. Dean Guy Loneragan said at the time that the program would benefit the school and the cattle industry, while faculty lead Jennifer Koziol tied the initiative to the lack of veterinary coverage in rural regions. (depts.ttu.edu)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the second graduating class is an early test of whether a mission-driven school can move the workforce needle in a state that has long debated rural access, food-animal coverage, and practice distribution. More graduates alone won’t solve the problem; TVMA’s testimony points to economics, working conditions, and lifestyle barriers as part of the shortage. But a larger graduating class, full accreditation, strong early licensing performance, and state incentive pathways give Texas Tech more credibility as a long-term contributor to the Texas veterinary pipeline. (tvma.org)
What to watch: The next signal will be placement data: how many of these 80 graduates enter rural, mixed-animal, food-animal, or other underserved practice settings, how many use state incentive programs, and whether Texas Tech’s new residency and community-based training model improve retention in those areas over the next few years. (web.tahc.texas.gov)