Mississippi Just Put $32 Million Behind a Vet School Built in the 1970s

State lawmakers handed Mississippi State's College of Veterinary Medicine its biggest facilities win in years, and the money is going straight at the parts of the hospital students and clients feel every single day.

Walk through most veterinary teaching hospitals built in the 1970s and you already know the story before anyone tells you. Narrow hallways designed for a different era of caseload. ICU space that maxes out on a bad Tuesday. Equine stalls that were state of the art when disco was still playing on the radio.Mississippi State University's College of Veterinary Medicine has been living that story for decades. This spring, the state legislature decided to help rewrite it. Lawmakers approved a $32 million investment in the CVM during the 2026 regular session, money that MSU President Mark E. Keenum says is aimed squarely at the equine and small-animal hospitals that have carried the college since the 1970s.

"Mississippi State is well known for meeting needs and providing solutions, and the College of Veterinary Medicine exemplifies how we fulfill our mission to serve the entire state of Mississippi."
  Mark E. Keenum, President, Mississippi State University

Here's where the money actually goes. The equine hospital is getting new operating rooms, new stalls, and round-the-clock emergency capability, plus a dedicated space for lameness evaluation, the kind of workup that currently competes for whatever room happens to be open. On the small-animal side, the college is expanding to add client consulting rooms, specialty services, and a larger intensive care unit for the sickest patients coming through the door. The Community Veterinary Services unit is expanding too, giving students more direct reps on the common diseases and wellness visits that make up the bulk of general practice.

That last piece matters more than a line item suggests. A vet school can produce excellent diagnosticians and still send graduates into their first job underprepared for the wellness exam grind that pays the bills. More hands-on general practice exposure during school is a direct answer to that gap.

The $32 million doesn't stand alone. It builds on an $18 million investment the state made in 2024, which funded a new cattle handling facility, a new inpatient farm animal hospital, and the launch of a Center for Rural Veterinary Practice aimed at getting more veterinarians into underserved rural counties. Between the two rounds of funding, Mississippi has now put $50 million behind rebuilding its only veterinary college from the ground up.

Keenum framed the investment as workforce development as much as facilities upgrade. “We are addressing real needs in our state and nation by enhancing our focus on rural veterinary practice. Our CVM students receive an exceptional education, and we also want to support them with ongoing professional development and business management training as they advance in their veterinary careers,” he said.

A WIN FOR THE PEOPLE ALREADY IN THE BUILDING

The facilities money arrived alongside a win that matters just as much to the people already working inside those buildings. The legislature and the Board of Trustees of Institutions of Higher Learning funded a pay increase primarily targeted at academic personnel, along with additional dollars to cover rising health insurance and retirement costs. The agriculture units within the Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine got their own increased operating funds, with a raise pool for instructional faculty matching what main campus received.

“While the bulk of our operations saw level funding, I'm extremely pleased that the Mississippi Legislature and the Board of Trustees of Institutions of Higher Learning chose to invest in a long-needed pay increase primarily for our academic personnel and provided funds to cover rising health insurance and public employee retirement costs,” Keenum said. “We are also grateful for increased operating funds for each of our five separate agriculture units, with a raise pool for instructional faculty in that division that mirrors that provided for the main campus.”

For a college that trains a meaningful share of the veterinarians who go on to serve Mississippi's rural counties and agricultural economy, faculty retention is not a side issue. It is the pipeline.

THE REST OF THE LIST

CVM wasn't the only line item on Keenum's list this session. The legislature also funded the final $18 million needed to complete the Mississippi Cyber and Technology Center at Keesler Air Force Base, bringing that project's total state investment to $55 million. Twenty million went to a South Campus Mechanical Plant that will extend HVAC infrastructure to the growing western and southern edges of the Starkville campus. Nine million landed in general repair and renovation funds, distributed statewide by enrollment and square footage. Five million went into an endowment supporting the Autism Care Initiative, funding scholarships and graduate assistantships tied to the Mississippi Institute of Disabilities. And $1.7 million, funded through the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, will keep MSU's CVM-led research into marine mammal and sea turtle health in the Mississippi Sound running, work scientists use as a proxy for the overall health of that estuary.

But the veterinary college is the headline here, and for good reason. A 1970s-era hospital trying to serve a state with growing demand for both companion animal care and large-animal expertise was never going to hold indefinitely. Mississippi just bet $32 million that it's worth fixing now.

SOURCE: MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS  |  WWW.MSSTATE.EDU