Lyon College’s new dental school will be in the former Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield building at 5 Allied Drive in Little Rock’s Riverdale neighborhood, and a new veterinary school will be located in Cabot alongside a new municipal Animal Services Center.
A press release Tuesday afternoon says renovation and construction on both campuses will begin this year. The Lyon College School of Veterinary Medicine in Cabot and the Lyon College School of Dental Medicine in Little Rock are expected to enroll their first classes in fall 2025 and summer 2025 respectively.
“After thorough consideration, the Lyon leadership decided to split the vet and dental schools based on proximity to related entities,” Dr. Melissa Taverner, president of Lyon College, said in the release. “The dental school in Little Rock will be located close to existing medical institutions; and the veterinary school in Cabot will be located adjacent to the planned Cabot Animal Services Center and will have space for future programmatic expansion. We are beyond thankful for the time and collaborative efforts of so many who worked in good faith to open these schools.”
The announcement comes after months of speculation about where the schools would be. An agreement signed in May 2022 to install Lyon’s dental and veterinary programs at the Heifer International headquarters in downtown Little Rock fell through late last year under mysterious circumstances. A lawsuit over who gets the $550,000 in earnest money from the defunct deal is ongoing.
Lyon College in Batesville is already well-established, with an undergraduate population of about 600. The college is now seeking accreditation for its graduate programs from the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Council on Education and the American Dental Association’s Commission on Dental Accreditation.
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