Lindsay France/University Photography

Michael Kotlikoff, the Austin O. Hooey Dean of Veterinary Medicine, places a hood on a College of Veterinary Medicine graduate May 23 in Bailey Hall.

Lindsay France/University Photographer

College of Veterinary Medicine graduates make their way into Bailey Hall.

From Cornell University’s campus, far above Cayuga’s waters, the 2015 graduating class of doctors of veterinary medicine will take their degrees and start their professions in earnest across 27 states and Namibia, southwest Africa.

For example, while one newly minted doctor will join a dairy practice in Minnesota, another will travel to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to serve as a veterinarian for the U.S. Army, while another will work at the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia.

But before they had a chance to remove their gowns and regalia, Michael Kotlikoff, the Austin O. Hooey Dean of Veterinary Medicine, left them with some parting advice as part of his address at the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Hooding Ceremony May 23 in Bailey Hall.

“Our graduates enter the profession at a time of significant challenges in animal health,” Kotlikoff said. Some of these include “globalization-driven habitat pressures, food safety and security failures and emerging zoonotic diseases [that] call for a renewed commitment to new ideas and new energy,” he said, adding that the graduates were prepared to address these challenges.

First, he advised the students to “take extraordinary pride” in their vocation. “Veterinary medicine is one of the most respected professions,” as the public has come to expect not just “extraordinary confidence and compassion,” but also “technical and scientific excellence” from veterinarians, he said.

“Second, be confident in your training and yourself, don’t be afraid to take risks. Finally, be positive ambassadors of veterinary medicine,” he said. “Despite all of the challenges of our profession, we are a profession of tremendous strengths, and your intelligence and energy is not least among them,” he said.

With these encouraging words fresh in their minds, Kotlikoff and Katherine Edmondson, assistant dean for learning and instruction, started the procession and placed the hoods that symbolize the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine on graduating students.

The ceremony was followed by a brief speech by H. Jay Harvey, associate professor of primary care surgery in the College of Veterinary Medicine and the 2015 Zoetis Distinguished Teacher, as voted by the students.

“There’s nothing a teacher values more than the opinion of students,” he said. He added that he had no doubts the graduates will “be veterinarians of great talent and accurate judgment” but he hoped they would not “lose the gentleness and kindness” that defines them, and that they “never let making a living get in the way of making a life.”

Harvey announced the Class of 2015 Awards, including the Horace K. White Prize to Rachel Ann Hatch for “the student with the highest academic record during their veterinary training”; the Malcolm E. Miller Award to Rebecca Jane Vogel for “a fourth-year student who, in the judgment of the dean, has demonstrated perseverance, scholastic diligence and other personal characteristics that will bring credit and distinction to the veterinary profession;” and the Leonard Perason Veterinary Prize to Emily Joy Aston for “the fourth-year student who most successfully demontrates the potential for professional and/or academic leadership in veterinary medicine,” Harvey said.

The event also included recognition of interns and residents, delivered by Lorin Warnick, associate dean for veterinary education and Hospital for Animals director.

With a Cornell undergraduate degree and her DVM complete, Alina Ali ’11 anticipates the transition from “being a student to practicing. It will be an interesting dynamic to actually be working,” she said.

Kathy Earnest-Koons, a senior lecturer in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, added that the students’ biggest challenge will be “making decisions on their own” after years of having an experienced veterinarian and instructor nearby. “They are going to be ‘The Vet,’” she added.