As our month-long crowdfunding campaign for the Julie Butler, DVM ’83, Memorial Scholarship comes to a close, you have made a great impact. In the words of Dr. Caroline Yancey, Associate Professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine, “The Julie Butler Memorial Scholarship is a wonderful way to honor Dr. Butler’s legacy. Our hope is that it inspires veterinary students to be engaged community leaders, like Dr. Butler. By supporting a student to pursue a veterinary education at Cornell, this scholarship can have a lifelong impact on the individual students that it supports. Importantly, it is also an opportunity to strengthen the veterinary professional community. Our profession is one of the least diverse in the US. To be most effective as veterinary healthcare providers, the profession should be representative of the client population we serve. I hope that the scholarship is one among many that can contribute to increasing the diversity of the veterinary profession.”

Thank you for the generous support you have shown by contributing to this scholarship, and to the alumnus who contributed a matching $5,000 gift – in addition to his other support!

The College would also like to send special thanks to the Butler & Howard families for sharing Julie’s story with us, for supporting the scholarship and crowdfunding, and for allowing us to introduce you to her life and legacy. More on the incredible Renaissance woman she was can be found here.

Dr. Butler’s enduring impact will be felt in the change you are helping to make a reality. Just as she considered her staff as family, you, too, are part of the Cornell family. We look forward to sharing news of the first Julie Butler Scholar with you in the future.

We at Cornell are so thankful for our support of this scholarship, honoring the memory and legacy of Dr. Butler, and creating change by supporting diversity among future veterinarians. 

This Thanksgiving, as you spend time with your loved ones (animal and human), enjoy the 12^th Annual DeeDee Arrison Concert for the Animals. Our thanks to the Arrison family for sharing a special experience with animal-lovers again this year. For more fun, watch this sneak peak at a new series featuring Cornell Vet alumna Dr. Joya Griffin (DVM ’06), or treat your humans (only) to her Leftover Sliders.

We are giving thanks for you!

Thanks to you, we are close to our goal of raising $15,000 by November 15th!

Your support of this scholarship speaks volumes. You understand the impact Dr. Butler had on clients, classmates, and her community, or believe in providing access to an education in veterinary medicine for Black students and access to care for pet owners in underserved communities. 

Dr. Michelle Moyal (DVM '07), Assistant Clinical Professor at Cornell Vet, eloquently shares her own perspective in this video.

We are grateful to each of you for your support.

P.S.  Your help in continuing to spread the word about this project can unlock an additional contribution. If we hit our target of $15,000 by November 15th, a generous donor will add another $5,000 to the Julie Butler DVM '83 Memorial Scholarship. 

To thank you for supporting the memory of Dr. Julie Butler, Theresa McCoy-Thomas, DVM '85 shares a story of friendship and its lasting impact

Dr. Julie R. Butler and I met in 1980 at Cornell when she was a first-year veterinary student, and I was a junior doing my undergraduate pre-veterinary studies.  We lived across the parking lot from each other in the same apartment complex.   Julie was generous with her time and advice.  She was the first veterinary student I had ever met and by that virtue she was the first veterinary student of color that I had access to. Her support was invaluable. She gave me a firsthand look at the rigors and challenges of making it through the veterinary program. She made sure to introduce me to other graduate/professional students as well as a few professors who could help guide me along the way with the application process to veterinary school. 

During my first two years and Julie’s final 2 years we shared an apartment together.  We supported each other, we laughed together and sometimes cried together.  Julie was so completely about creating and supporting family and community.  We socialized regularly with a handful of students and residents who mainly came from groups who didn’t easily fit in the typical mainstream network of the veterinary college.  Our regular gatherings and dinners gave us a sense of grounding, belonging, community and family.

After receiving her veterinary degree Julie continued the sense of community and giving back by always remembering to share her experiences, knowledge and expertise by mentoring those who came along behind her. Family, community and camaraderie have always meant a lot to her.

Having a veterinary community that serves all people in all communities is important.  It is also imperative that the costs associated with obtaining the training not burden a veterinarian with a lifetime of student debt. The Julie R. Butler Memorial Scholarship will have a part in continuing her legacy of sharing, family and community and ensuring that the veterinary profession will be represented by a diverse student body of all backgrounds regardless of the ability to pay.  

Thank you for supporting the scholarship in Julie's memory and providing an opportunity for a student to pursue her or his dream tomorrow.

By Theresa McCoy-Thomas, DVM ‘85