Veterinary college's Scott Pleasant earns national teaching award

Scott Pleasant of Blacksburg, extension equine veterinarian and associate professor in the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences at Virginia Tech, was awarded the 2005 Student American Veterinary Medical Association Teaching Excellence Award – Clinical Sciences during the annual meeting of the American Veterinary Medical Association in Minneapolis.

Pleasant was recognized “for his excellence, innovation and enthusiasm” in the field of clinical veterinary science and education, according to information released by the American Veterinary Medical Association. The award recognizes the dedication of those unique professors who not only educate but inspire their students.

Pleasant is a member of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine’s charter class of 1984 and he is a Diplomate in the American College of Veterinary Surgeons. Prior to joining the VMRCVM faculty, he worked in equine private practice in eastern Virginia.

Pleasant has served as chief of large animal surgery in the Veterinary Teaching Hospital and assumed the college’s leadership position in equine extension in 2004.

He maintains research interests in equine lameness and podiatry, and he has authored or co-authored more than 75 manuscripts, abstracts and book chapters, and provided more than 100 professional presentations in front of national and international audiences.

The Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM) is a two-state, three-campus professional school operated by the land-grant universities of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg and the University of Maryland at College Park. Its flagship facilities, based at Virginia Tech, include the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, which treats more than 40,000 animals annually. Other campuses include the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Leesburg, Va., and the Avrum Gudelsky Veterinary Center at College Park, home of the Center for Government and Corporate Veterinary Medicine. The VMRCVM annually enrolls approximately 500 Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and graduate students, is a leading biomedical and clinical research center, and provides professional continuing education services for veterinarians practicing throughout the two states.