Lyon College has announced that it received an $11 million gift from the Arkansas Animal Rescue Foundation to establish the Katharine Reese Shelter Medicine and Animal Welfare Program at the School of Veterinary Medicine.
“Kathy Reese’s lifelong passion for animals and nature lives through this program,” said Gail Arnold, chair of the AARF Board of Trustees. “Her dream was to make Arkansas a better place for animals — and through this collaboration with Lyon College, we are fulfilling that dream in a very effective and sustainable way.”
The welfare program will be located at the veterinary school in Cabot, which is co-located with Cabot Animal Support Services. It will serve as the foundation for a center for excellence in shelter medicine, building on the American Veterinary Medical Association’s recognition of shelter medicine as a vital specialty.
Money will be allocated to a professorship, the endowment of additional faculty and academic programs, a scholarship program, the creation of physical spaces and the purchase of a mobile veterinary unit.
The collaboration between AARF and Lyon College guarantees the continuation of the foundation’s mission through a fiduciary trust, which will fund shelter grants, spay/neuter programs and animal rescue efforts.
“This is a defining moment for Lyon College and for veterinary education in Arkansas,” Dr. David Hutchinson said. “It’s an investment that will benefit students, shelters and animals for generations.”
The Lyon College School of Veterinary Medicine plans to have its inaugural class in 2026, pending accreditation.
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