College of Veterinary Medicine to hold inaugural graduation ceremony

April 13, 2017

The ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ College of Veterinary Medicine (TUCVM) will hold its first separate graduation ceremony on May 6, 2017. The event will take place at 10:00 a.m. in the ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Chapel. Tickets will be required to attend this event. In previous years, the College of Veterinary Medicine always participated in the main Commencement Ceremony of the University, then convened afterwards in another building for the Veterinary Oath Ceremony.

The inception of the first TUCVM graduation ceremony will include the Veterinary Oath Ceremony and conferring of the DVM diploma to the Class of 2017. The speaker for this inaugural event will be Dr. Christine C. Jenkins, DVM, DACVIM-SAIM and a 1984 graduate of the ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ College of Veterinary Medicine.

Dr. Christine C. Jenkins heads the Veterinary Medical Services and Outcomes Research groups responsible for customer support, adverse event reporting, and outcomes research at Zoetis. Jenkins also oversees the Academic and Professional Affairs team responsible for strategic partnerships with U.S. and Caribbean colleges of veterinary medicine, and key professional associations. She directs the U.S. philanthropy and corporate social responsibility strategy, which supports key outreach efforts including disaster relief, student scholarship and internship programs, and Zoetis’ Commitment to Veterinarians™ platform. As a member of the Zoetis U.S. Leadership Team, Dr. Jenkins serves as the Chief Veterinary Medical Officer for U.S. Operations.

Prior to joining Zoetis in 2012, Jenkins held director positions in clinical research, regulatory affairs and marketing at Pfizer Animal Health, Merial Ltd., and Hill’s Pet Nutrition. Earlier, Jenkins’ career was spent in academia where she achieved tenure as an Associate Professor of Small Animal Internal Medicine and served as Coordinator of Recruitment for the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. While at UT, Dr. Jenkins implemented several successful diversity initiatives funded by USDA and the State of Tennessee, and spearheaded a diversity grant for Tuskegee School of Veterinary Medicine during her early years at Pfizer.

Jenkins, a native of Tallahassee, Florida received her BS degree in Animal Science from Florida A. & M. University and her DVM from ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ. She completed an internship at the University of Florida and a residency at the University of Tennessee in small animal internal medicine. She is board certified by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) in Small Animal Internal Medicine and is a past-president of the ACVIM Foundation Board of Directors. Dr. Jenkins serves on the Board of Directors for the One Health Commission, the Sponsors Board for FFA, the Advisory Board for Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), the Dean’s Advisory Board for ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ’s College of Veterinary Medicine, and previously served two terms on the Board of Directors for CATalyst Council. 

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