STUDENT SUPPORT

Caring About Veterinary Care

Growing up in rural Cambridge, Vermont, Shannon Gilbert '08 was always surrounded by animals. Her mother is an animal lover and raised everything from dogs and cats to ferrets and sheep, so as a child Shannon was never without animals to help care for. "Right now, we have a nice little farm, dubbed Spinning Eagles Farm — my mother's last name is Eagles — consisting of alpacas, llamas, angora goats, sheep, and an angora rabbit," she says.

An animal science major in her final year at UVM, Shannon is taking the course sequences recommended for pre-veterinary students and plans to become a veterinarian. She says she wants to stay as close to Vermont as she can and so is applying to the veterinary schools at Cornell, Tufts, the University of Pennsylvania, and perhaps Prince Edward Island. After vet school, she plans to return to practice in Vermont. "I'd like to get my DVM in a mixed species degree so that I can keep my options open," she says. "Eventually I'd like to focus on wildlife and conservation, but that may have to wait until later in my career."

Shannon is one of 35 UVM students to benefit over the past decade from the Doris and Julian Malkiel Scholarship, established by Mr. Malkiel in memory of his wife, who died in 1997. The Malkiels moved to Vermont in 1959 and "very quickly became Vermonters," says Julian. For 18 years he and Doris were the owners of the Scandinavia Inn in Stowe, Vermont. Among their many shared joys in life were the several generations of standard poodles who were their constant companions from the first year of their marriage.

"Veterinarians were a little tough to come by sometimes up here," recalls Julian. "The only one available when we first came to Stowe was down in Waterbury, so that's where we had to go. And he was overworked. It was pretty obvious that there weren't that many vets in Vermont."

The Malkiels eventually established a relationship with Dr. Harold Brown '52, a UVM alumnus who practiced for more than 30 years in Williston and provided much-appreciated care for their pets over the years. "He was a terrific guy. He was a good example of a country veterinarian," says Julian.

The couple also had come to love their adopted home state of Vermont and began thinking about how they might give something back to the place where they made their livelihood. "My wife was very aware that Vermont was a poor state, so that when kids wanted to go to college, they had a tough time," says Julian. The Malkiels decided that a scholarship for promising Vermont students with financial need in the pre-veterinary program at the University of Vermont would be an appropriate expression of their philanthropic intent.

Doris Malkiel died in 1997, but she was very much a participant in planning for the scholarship that Julian established in her honor the following year. "It's what she would have wanted done," says Julian, who has also made arrangements through his estate plan to permanently endow the scholarship fund. Over the course of The Campaign for the University of Vermont, more than $1 million in gifts have been credited to the Doris and Julian Malkiel Scholarship Fund.

"Being chosen for this scholarship has been the biggest honor I've yet received," says Shannon. "It's incredible to me that there are people out there like Julian Malkiel who are so generous toward people they don't even know. I'll never forget his kindness and generosity. I only hope I can go on to be a successful vet so I don't let him down."