Administration

I. Small Animal Internship Committee

• The Small Animal Internship Committee will consist of 7 members. Three members will be appointed each year to serve 2-year terms beginning July 1. The seventh member will be the previous year's chairperson.(See Section III)
• The Chairperson will be appointed each year by the Department.
• In some cases, the Chairperson may serve more than one year.

• To complete the tasks set forth in this document.
• To evaluate intern performance on a regular basis, generally every 3 to 4 months.
• To make recommendations to the Head of Department concerning issuance of certificates that certify completion of internship programs.
• To evaluate the intern's publications in cooperation with the intern's advisor.
• To organize, guide and conduct the intern application and selection process (selection of a list of candidates for the intern matching program).
• To provide applicants with information about the internship program and the facilities at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
• To review the internship program annually (as described in this document), validating its adequacy or recommending needed changes to the departmental Internship-Residency Advisory Council.

II. Residency Committees

A. Residency committees shall be established for each of the residency programs offered in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences.

• Committee Chairperson - Section Chief or Department Head's designate.
• Senior faculty members of the section appointed by the Section Chief. The number of members may vary between residency committees.

• To complete the tasks set forth in this document.
• To evaluate resident performance on a regular basis.
• To make recommendations to the Head of Department concerning annual reappointment of residents and issuance of certificates that certify completion of residency programs.
• To evaluate the resident's publications in cooperation with the resident's advisor.
• To evaluate the resident's progress towards board certification by the respective specialty college.
• To organize, guide, and conduct the residency application process in the section.
• To evaluate the residency program of that section annually, validating its adequacy or recommending needed changes to the departmental Internship-Residency Advisory Council.

III. Internship-Residency Advisory Council

• Head of Department or designate (Chairperson).
• Chairperson of the Internship Committee.
• Chief Resident - a 3rd-year resident selected with input of the residents and approved by IRAC and the Head of the Department. The term will begin June 1 with selection in April.
• The Section Chief of each discipline that has a residency program (i.e., Anesthesiology, Medicine and Surgery); or the designated Residency Program Director for the residency.
• Faculty member in charge of the Intern-Resident Seminar Series.

• To coordinate the internship and residency programs of the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences.
• To review and approve changes in the internship and residency programs that are formulated by the committees overseeing individual internship and residency programs.
• To establish uniform departmental standards, policies and procedures needed to sustain superior internship and residency programs.

IV. Selection and Ranking of Intern and Residency Candidates

• Notices about and descriptions of the internship program will be prepared and distributed as required by the American Association of Veterinary Clinicians.
• Direct input from VSCS faculty about internship candidates is strongly encouraged. A specific form (created by the Internship Committee) for information that faculty members want to contribute will be available for completion by the faculty member for inclusion in the candidates' folders. For full consideration, this form should be in the folders before December 1.
• The Internship Committee shall be composed of 7 members. Committee members' terms should be for 2 years, with three members being appointed each year. The previous year's chair will serve an additional year to add continuity to the Committee. Faculty with a sincere interest in participating in the selection process should be appointed to the Internship Committee, and interested individuals should submit their names for consideration. The Department Head usually appoints the chair from the group of three second-year committee members. The new chair and committee will begin their duties on July 1 each year. See Section I. A. and I. B. (Small Animal Internship Committee).
• The Internship Committee shall evaluate, rank and provide the final list of candidates for submission to the Matching Program, in the order and total number as deemed appropriate by the Committee. This list should be reported to the faculty and forwarded to the Associate Department Head or the Department Head for submission to the Matching Program.
• The Committee will depend on the candidates' letters of reference, GPA, class rank, letter of intent, and input from faculty as described in #2, to arrive at the final decisions.

• We abide by the submission deadlines set forth by the American Association of Veterinary Clinicians (AAVC) (http://www.virmp.org   ). We expect the candidates' applications to arrive on or before the deadline; we may exclude an application from further consideration if it is incomplete at the deadline.
• The Medicine Residency Committee (i.e., all senior faculty in the Medicine Section) is encouraged to review the applications for the medicine residency position as they arrive (usually mid-December to early January). Committee members who have had interaction with or received information about specific candidates are asked to place that information, in written form, in the candidate's application folder.
• The members of the Medicine Residency Committee then rank the candidates and return the ranking form to the Medicine Residency Committee chairperson. Once the numbers have been tabulated, a rank order list is established. Following the establishment of this list, a meeting of the Medicine Residency Committee is called to evaluate the results of the ranking. The ranking list is subject to change based on discussions during this meeting.
• Interviews of residency candidates, if and when they occur, are conducted on an individual basis. It is the general belief of the Medicine Residency Committee that group interviews are undesirable. We can also conduct telephone interviews with the candidates who desire an interview but cannot visit Texas A&M.

• The Surgery Section abides by the submission deadlines set forth by the American Association of Veterinary Clinicians and listed on the website of the Veterinary Internship and Residency Matching Program Directory. (http://www.virmp.org   )
• The Surgery Residency Committee (i.e., all senior faculty in the Surgery Section) meets in December to discuss residency candidates. A decision to include a candidate on the "short-list" is made by unanimous endorsement. Section members are encouraged to study the application files and to rank all candidates by the next meeting.
• A second meeting (or meetings) of the Surgery Residency Committee is held in December or January to compose the final list of ranked candidates for submission to the Matching Program. All faculty members participating in the ranking process rank all candidates on the "short-list." Once the numbers have been tabulated, a rank order list is established. Following the establishment of this list, a meeting of the Surgery Residency Committee is called to evaluate the results of the ranking. The ranking list is subject to change based on discussions during this meeting.
• Interviews of residency candidates are conducted on an individual basis. Every attempt is made to schedule interviews so that they will be concluded prior to the deadline for receipt of the candidate's rank order list in the Matching Program Office.

• Similar procedures are followed for selection of all residents in VSCS.
• Currently, oncology, cardiology, and anesthesiology have residency positions. The candidates are evaluated, ranked and selected by the faculty in the specialty area.
• The final list of rankings for all internship and residency positions must be approved by the Department Head.