Lyon College receives $11 million from Arkansas Animal Rescue Foundation

Lyon College has received an $11 million gift from the Arkansas Animal Rescue Foundation (AARF) to establish the Katharine Reese Shelter Medicine and Animal Welfare Program at the Lyon College School of Veterinary Medicine.

The shelter medicine and animal welfare program will be located on the Lyon College School of Veterinary Medicine campus in Cabot, which is co-located with Cabot Animal Support Services.

“This extraordinary gift creates a ripple effect that will touch every part of the state,” said Dr. Melissa P. Taverner, president of Lyon College. “We are proud to honor Katharine Reese’s legacy through a program that will transform the way veterinary medicine serves shelter animals and communities. It also sets the stage for Lyon College to become a national leader in shelter medicine education and advocacy. I want to thank Lyon Trustee Skip Rutherford, who first connected AARF and Lyon and who has been instrumental in this incredible collaboration.”

The Katharine Reese Shelter Medicine and Animal Welfare Program includes $5 million to establish the Katharine Reese Endowed Professorship of Shelter Medicine and Animal Welfare. Another $2 million will endow several other faculty positions and support academic programs and an additional $2 million will create the Katharine Reese Endowed Scholarship program for veterinary students.

About $1 million will be used to construct physical space including classrooms, laboratories and shelter facilities, and another $1 million to purchase and operate a mobile veterinary unit.

“We are enormously grateful to the AARF for this remarkable gift that will advance the mission of the AARF and the LCSVM while honoring Katharine Reese. This gift supports the establishment of a center of excellence in shelter medicine and animal welfare on our campus and will ensure that Lyon College students have unmatched experiential learning opportunities,” said Dr. Eleanor Green, founding dean of the Lyon College School of Veterinary Medicine. “This will be a hub for teaching, outreach and research, directly impacting animal welfare and veterinary best practices across Arkansas.”

The partnership between AARF and Lyon College ensures that the foundation’s mission will continue through a fiduciary trust that supports shelter grants, spay/neuter programs and animal rescue initiatives.

“Kathy Reese’s lifelong passion for animals and nature lives on through this program,” said Gail Arnold, chair of the AARF Board of Trustees. “Her dream was to make Arkansas a better place for animals, and through this collaboration with Lyon College, we are fulfilling that dream in a very effective and sustainable way.”

Reese, who made Arkansas her home in the 1990s, created a sanctuary for animals on her 1,000-acre Pope County property and co-founded AARF in 2006 with her brother, William Reese. Their mission was to improve the lives of Arkansas’ most vulnerable domestic animals through innovation, compassion and service.

Dr. David Hutchison, vice president for advancement at Lyon College, said, “This is a defining moment for Lyon College and for veterinary education in Arkansas. Thanks to AARF’s extraordinary generosity, we can create a model of shelter medicine education that is collaborative, community-centered and deeply impactful. It’s an investment that will benefit students, shelters and animals for generations.”

Pending accreditation by the American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education, the Lyon College School of Veterinary Medicine plans to seat its inaugural class in 2026, with the shelter medicine and animal welfare program launching shortly thereafter.