College of

Veterinary Medicine

Growing up on a commercial cow-calf operation in Southern Oklahoma, Will Shelby was very active in 4-H and FFA and fell in love with food animal agriculture at a young age. Raising, marketing and caring for beef cattle quickly became an integral part of his life. Will particularly enjoyed the animal husbandry aspect of being a cattleman and this played a huge part in him deciding to pursue a career in veterinary medicine.

 

Why did you choose OSU to earn your veterinary degree?
All my mentor veterinarians are alumni of Oklahoma State University College of Veterinary Medicine. These men and women that have made such a difference in my life, always seemed to be so loyal and caring about my future not only as a veterinarian but as an individual. There always seemed to be an attentiveness to personal details about patients and clients about that I believed to be different. This seemed to always trace back to their education and training that they received in Stillwater. They always held the veterinary school in such high regards, and this is something that I knew I wanted to be a part of!

 

What does rural veterinary medicine mean to you? Why is it something you are passionate about?
Rural veterinary medicine is something that I believe is a crucial part of our state. Available rural veterinarians are so vital to smaller communities and large animal producers alike. Not only do I feel like I can make a difference in the role of a rural veterinarian, however something that I believe is one of the biggest joys of this career path is the personal relationships you get to build with your clients and animal owners.

 

What are your future plans?
My plans are to move back to Southern Oklahoma and open a food animal practice. I would like to do ambulatory medicine and potentially work as the veterinarian at a weekly livestock auction. I eventually want to build my own facility, where I can specialize in general bovine medicine as well as theriogenology.

 

Additional comments:

I would just like to say thank you to anyone and everyone that has contributed to making this fund a possibility. I know that it takes great effort to accomplish things such as this, and that many people put forth an immense amount of time into this effort.