Health and Medicine at MSU Archives & Historical Collections: Home

This LibGuide was created to aid visitors to the MSU Archives in finding resources related to health and medicine at MSU. Note that this Libguide is not a comprehensive listing of all the available sources, but is intended to be a starting point from which visitors can begin their research according to their specific needs.

Brief History of Medical Education at MSU

Medical education began at Michigan State from the very start of the university, which was established in 1855 as the nation’s first agricultural college. The first published four-year agricultural curriculum listed animal physiology in the third year and “veterinary” in the fourth. In 1883, Dr. Edward A. A. Grange was recruited to teach a full-year course designed to enlighten prospective stockmen, not to train practitioners. With his arrival, veterinary science took on the standing of a department within the Division of Agriculture¹. In 1910 the State Board of Agriculture officially organized the Veterinary Division which became the School of Veterinary Medicine in 1944 and then the College of Veterinary Medicine in 1955.

A nursing program at the college started in 1925 and was linked with the E. W. Sparrow School of Nursing until 1961. In 1950, a Department of Nursing Education was formed which later became the School of Nursing in 1957 and then the College of Nursing in 1980.

The Institute of Biology and Medicine was founded in 1961 to coordinate existing programs in various sciences, the Veterinary School and the anticipated programs in Human Medicine. The College of Human Medicine was officially formed in 1964. In 1965, the program began as a 2 year pre-clinical program with graduates going on to finish at a 4-year medical school in the state or to another state. In 1967, the program transitioned to a full 4-year program.

In 1964, the State of Michigan authorized a state charter for establishing a private Michigan College of Osteopathic Medicine (MCOM) in Pontiac, MI making it the 6th osteopathic college in the nation and the first in 53 years. In 1969, the first students were admitted. In 1970, the college became a component of MSU and became the first publicly funded college of osteopathic medicine. In 1971, the school transferred to East Lansing as Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine (MSUCOM).

¹From “History of CVM at Michigan State” web site which is excerpted from “Veterinary Medicine in Michigan”, a book written by Charles Cleon Morrill and published by MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 1979.