On a visit to the University of Tennessee in 2012, animal lovers Barbara and Eric Witzig were inspired by a meeting with Dr. Elizabeth Strand. As they learned about veterinary social work and its profound effect on the community and students, the couple’s interest grew. In 2014, they created the All Creatures Great and Small Endowed Clinical Professorship in the Veterinary Social Work program.

Though the Witzigs are now both deceased, their commitment to animals and their caregivers lives on.  A recent bequest from the Eric and Barbara Witzig Trust will provide additional resources to the professorship and expand research and practice in this important field.

“When Barbara and Eric created the All Creatures Great and Small Endowment in Veterinary Social Work, it did two things,” says Dr. Strand. “It helped to solidify this new sub-specialty as real and worthy, and it put words to the passion in my heart in caring for all creatures, including veterinary professionals who are as great as the creatures they treat.”  Strand was the first All Creatures Great and Small Endowed professor, a position she still holds.

Veterinary Social Work (VSW) is a partnership between the UT College of Social Work and the College of Veterinary Medicine. Designed to enhance, support and inform both professions, the program offers graduate and undergraduate training and focuses on grief and bereavement, compassion fatigue, the link between animal and human abuse, and animal-assisted therapies.

“It’s a program dedicated to marrying the professions of veterinary medicine and social work,” Strand says. “Sometimes in social work, we are around such deep suffering that we become fatigued, we lose our compassion. In caring for people who care for animals, in witnessing the healing power of animals, we have the opportunity to grow in compassion every day.”

After Barbara Witzig’s death in 2015, Eric Witzig continued to enjoy visits to campus and updates from Dr. Strand. He passed away last February.

“Eric would mentor me about what I needed to do to grow veterinary social work and he was right on every count.” Strand says. “I still have some promises I made to him that I intend to keep. The generous bequest to the All Creatures Great and Small Endowed Professorship ensures that not only I, but those that come after me, will be able to keep our veterinary social work promises and honor Eric and Barbara’s legacy.”