James Leo Voss (April 17, 1934 – July 12, 2013) was an American veterinarian,

equine Equinae is a subfamily of the family Equidae, which have lived worldwide (except Indonesia and Australia) from the Hemingfordian stage of the Early Miocene (16 million years ago) onwards. They are thought to be a monophyletic grouping.B. J. Ma ...

specialist, and

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of Colorado State University's (CSU) College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Early years

Born in

Grand Junction, Colorado Grand Junction is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Mesa County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 65,560 at the 2020 United States Census, making Grand Junction the 17th mo ...

in 1934, Voss grew up on his family's farm in Orchard Mesa. Graduating from Grand Junction High School in 1952, he married Kathleen Alice "Kay" Claxton in 1954. He earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Colorado A&M (now CSU) in 1958 and later obtained a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

at CSU in 1966. He remained at CSU to teach in the Department of Clinical Sciences and work as an equine ambulatory clinician, a veterinarian in equine reproduction, and departmental administrator.

Departmental administrator

In his administrator's position, Dr. Voss saw the need for a new veterinary teaching hospital. The old hospital, located in the center of CSU's main campus, offered little space for the flourishing program. The numbers of students enrolled in the program tasked the outdated and inadequate laboratories.

Biosecurity Biosecurity refers to measures aimed at preventing the introduction and/or spread of harmful organisms (e.g. viruses, bacteria, etc.) to animals and plants in order to minimize the risk of transmission of infectious disease. In agriculture, thes ...

issues also began to arise. The university's request for funds was initially turned down by the state legislature. Dr. Voss and his colleagues turned to the agricultural and ranching communities, as well as some supportive politicians. The state eventually provided the funding necessary to allow for a new hospital, which opened in 1978 and began with veterinary programs that are still in its curriculum.

CSU dean

In 1986, Dr. Voss started a 15-year tenure as CSU's dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, retiring in 2001. Upon his retirement, the teaching hospital was renamed in his honor as the James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital. He was also honored in several congressional speeches, given by Scott McInniss and

Wayne Allard Alan Wayne Allard (born December 2, 1943) is an American veterinarian and politician who served as a United States Representative (1991–1997) and United States Senator (1997–2009) from Colorado, as well as previously a Colorado State Senator ...

. To this day, the CSU veterinary program graduates about 140 veterinarians each year and has been ranked among the top three veterinary teaching programs in the United States.

Personal life and death

Dr. Voss and wife Kay lived in Fort Collins, Colorado and had two sons, Ed and Bill, and one daughter, Laura. On July 12, 2013, Dr. Voss died from a lengthy unspecified illness. He was 79 years old.

Bibliography

References

External links

Website
for the CSU College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences {{DEFAULTSORT:Voss, James L. 1934 births 2013 deaths People from Fort Collins, Colorado People from Grand Junction, Colorado American animal care and training writers American male non-fiction writers American veterinarians Male veterinarians Colorado State University alumni Colorado State University faculty