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CORVALLIS - The College of Veterinary Medicine will hold its graduation ceremony for 35 new doctors of veterinary medicine on Sunday, June 1.

The program will begin at 1:30 p.m. in the LaSells Stewart Center on the OSU campus, and is free and open to the public. Most other OSU graduates will receive their diplomas at the university's regular commencement program on June 15.

The graduation this year takes place as the College of Veterinary Medicine is beginning its largest expansion since it was founded, in order to serve the growing need for veterinary services in Oregon.

"The College of Veterinary Medicine, through the actions of the last legislative session, is finally bringing small animal medical and surgical training to Oregon," said Dr. Howard Gelberg, dean of the college. "We have increased our class size by a third and have embarked on a building program and associated capital campaign to build a small animal referral hospital in Corvallis."

The college will also form a partnership with the Oregon Humane Society to provide primary care to abandoned animals of the Portland metropolitan area, Gelberg said, helping to make homeless animals more adoptable while providing students with supervised, hands-on experiences in community and shelter practice.

The job market for the graduating veterinary doctors this year remains strong, despite many weaknesses elsewhere in the economy, Gelberg said. Part of this is due to the increasingly important role that companion animals play in many families and better recognition of the important role of the human-animal bond in human health, he said. The new doctors will also play key roles in assisting the state's poultry, equine, camelid and livestock industries.

Dr. Baxter Black, a large animal veterinarian and poet, will deliver the graduation address at the ceremony. Degrees will be conferred by Sabah Randhawa, the OSU provost, and the veterinarian's oath will be administered by Dr. Kurt Schrader, president of the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association and an Oregon state senator. Richard Jarvis, chancellor of the Oregon University System, will also participate in the ceremony.

Students being honored with induction into the Alpha Gamma chapter of Phi Zeta include Elisa Trullinger, Diane Heider, Tara Timpson, Lina Wachsmuch, Margaret Bowyer, and Nya Gilmartin.

The graduating doctors of veterinary medicine include:

• OREGON

  Beaverton: Rachel Lyn Miller
  Bend: Elisa Hall Trullinger
  Corvallis: John Paul Leeming and James Peter Maddox
  Estacada: Elizabeth T. Kleps
  Eugene: Diane D. Heider and Tricia Corinne Schilling
  Heppner: Sara M. Greenup
  Hillsboro: Bret Kimball Smith
  Hood River: Shelly Marie Kuhnhausen-Knopsnyder
  La Grande: Mindy Joe Lenardson
  McMinnville: Sarah Crystal Cummings
  Oregon City: Margaret Bowyer
  Portland: Jennifer Kirstin Oliver, Barbara Elaine Slade, Jennifer K. Smith, and Lina Mercedes Wachsmuth
  Salem: Jennifer C. Acree
  Sandy: Angela Monica Turra

   

• ARIZONA

  Tucson: Barbara W. Truex

   

• CALIFORNIA

  Grass Valley: Michelle Stacey Capen
  Lake Forest: Mara Danielle Schnayer
  Sonoma: Josephine Michelle McGrane
  St. Helena: Anjeanette Tara Garland
  Torrence: Peter George Vellutini

   

• FLORIDA

  Lakeland: Dawn Rene Morgan-Winter

   

• IDAHO

  Mountain Home: Jacki S. Tegarden

   

• ILLINOIS

  Freeport: Mary Louise Statdfield

   

• MARYLAND

  Galena: Sara Elizabeth Wilson

   

• MASSACHUSETTS

  Ayer: Beverly Diana Place

   

• NEW MEXICO

  Deming: Marvin D. Hays

   

• NEW YORK

  Monroe: Kathryn L. Schade

   

• UTAH

  Orem: Tara Timpson

   

• WASHINGTON

  Battle Ground: Nya Gilmartin