College’s Veterinary Program Gets Gift

Pierce College’s veterinary science program had long wanted to update its educational software, but the agriculture department couldn’t afford it.

Not giving up, program officials recently appealed to Oregon-based Interactive Technology Group Inc., explaining the financial situation facing the college and the department.

Ultimately, the company agreed not only to donate the $5,000 software, but gave the pre-veterinary medicine and veterinary technology programs the right to share it with other departments.

“There’s no way we could have been able to buy this with all our budget problems,” said Lee Shapiro, animal science and pre-veterinary program instructor.

The agriculture department recently received four advanced software programs in neurology, pathology and small-animal management, which it will share with students in life science classes.

Shapiro said the software will help veterinary students prepare for the future.

“We don’t want to teach people the way it was,” he said. “We want to teach them the way it’s going to be. If we can only do what used to be done, no one is going to hire our people. We’re always trying to stay one step ahead of the game.”

The agriculture department, like others in the college and in the Los Angeles Community College District, has to do more with less because of budget cuts.

This year the college cut $9,000 in funding for student workers to tend to the department’s farm and $31,000 in the department’s water budget, making it one of the few that’s “praying for El Nino to come to water the pastures,” according to Shapiro.