Career of longtime MSU veterinary faculty member honored

Contact: Karen Templeton

Dr. E. Wynn Jones (Photo by Tom Thompson)

STARKVILLE, Miss.—A founding faculty member of Mississippi State’s College of Veterinary Medicine posthumously is being honored by the American College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia.

Dr. E. Wynn Jones of Starkville, who died in April at the age of 92, has been awarded a lifetime achievement award. Specifically, he is cited for leadership in the establishment and continued progress of veterinary anesthesiology as an academic discipline—a professional field that played a critical role in the land-grant university’s development of the Magnolia State’s only veterinary college.

In 1975, Jones was among the seven diplomates who founded ACVAA to encourage creation of a specialty in veterinary anesthesiology. Their achievement has been credited with greatly benefiting both animal health and, in time, human medicine.

A native of Oswestry, England, Jones was a graduate of London’s Royal Veterinary College. He also completed a doctorate at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

When first contacted by Dr. James G. Miller, MSU’s founding veterinary dean, Jones was a professor and consultant at Oklahoma State University’s College of Medicine. He moved to Starkville in 1982.

“This was an opportunity to participate in the design of a facility that was far in advance of anything I had seen,” Jones recalled in 2011. “It was important for MSU-CVM’s plans to include combination classrooms and laboratory spaces, plus common resources between large-animal and small-animal treatment areas.”

Jones served MSU for many years as a professor and vice dean of the college. After retiring, becoming professor emeritus and remaining a consultant, he continued to work on behalf of both his academic unit and land-grant institution of which it is a major part.

“We owe much of our institution’s success to Dr. Jones’ pioneering spirit,” said Dr. Kent Hoblet, the current dean. “His tireless efforts on behalf of both our college and the veterinary profession can’t be overstated. He is an inspiration and an innovator.

“We are proud of his lifetime achievement award with ACVAA; his work continues to move veterinary medicine forward,” Hoblet added.

In addition to MSU and OSU, he held faculty or consultant duties at Auburn, Texas A&M and Washington State universities.

Hoblet said plans are underway to celebrate Jones during an Oct. 28 campus event. Former students, colleagues, friends and others interested in taking part should telephone 662-325-1131 for more information.

For more on the ACVAA, visit www.acvaa.org.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - 3:31 pm