Elizabeth Dole ’82, D.V.M.’86, has always been grateful for her alma mater. “Cornell was really good to me,” she says. “It gave me a world-class education.” Since graduating, Dole has been a friend and supporter of the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM), including serving as a member of the College Advisory Council and the President’s Council of Cornell Women. Now, she’s building on that support through the creation of the Elizabeth A. Dole 1982, DVM 1986 Companion Animal Scholarship.

Initially planned as a bequest, Dole reconsidered the approach after talking it over with CVM’s development team. "I thought about how much more fun it would be to see who would get the scholarship, and to follow their careers a bit,” says Dole. 

The path to Cornell

As with most veterinarians, Dole wanted to help animals from a very young age. Indeed, a major inspiration for Dole going into veterinary medicine was borne from the tragic breakdown of Ruffian, the American Champion filly. Dole was 14 when she witnessed Ruffian fracture bones in her leg during the highly anticipated match race against the colt, Foolish Pleasure, in July 1975. “It was really elemental to me. My vet school essay was about witnessing that match race,” says Dole.

Moved by this calamity and her abiding love of horses, Dole planned to go into equine medicine. However, a shoulder injury redirected her towards small animal medicine. During college, she volunteered at the Animal Medical Center in New York City, encountering Dr. Jay Harvey (now associate professor emeritus of small animal surgery) and John Randolph, D.V.M.’77 (now professor emeritus of small animal medicine) which motivated Dole to attend Cornell. It also sparked a career-long relationship with Randolph. “John wrote me a recommendation letters for vet school and my internship, and I wrote a letter for his tenure at Cornell,” Dole says.

Dole’s time as a CVM student was an enriching one: “If I can lump it all together, I learned from the giants in the profession,” she says. “All the people who wrote the books — having them in the classroom teaching us was just amazing. That experience shaped me and formed my view of veterinary medicine.”  Her highlights include neuro rounds with Alexander de Lahunta, D.V.M. '58, Ph.D. '63, and anatomy classes with Howard Evans ’44, Ph.D. ’50. Dole is also grateful for how close-knit her class was and continues to be. Many of them still gather for informal ‘rendezvous’ to reconnect, and together, her class established the Class of 1986 Heritage Scholarship to honor a classmate who passed away.

Best of all worlds

As a veterinarian, Dole has led a rich and varied career.  After completing her internship, she worked as a small animal general practitioner, later going on to become a Diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners (Canine/Feline Specialty). “I loved general practice and the relationships you develop with your clients and their families,” says Dole. 

She expanded her expertise once again to become a communicator, appearing on television and radio, and working as a veterinary reporter for the Veterinary News Network. Later, she would go on to work as a clinical investigator for drug trials and served on advisory panels for pharmaceutical companies. Her final 12 years of her career before retiring in 2023 were spent working as a senior specialist in drug safety (pharmacovigilance) at Merck Animal Health. “I got to experience the best of all worlds in my career,” she says.

Discovering agility

For over 20 years, Dole has spent much of her time in a world she never thought she’d be in: competitive canine agility. “When I started out, I never thought about competing — I was just thinking about playing with my dog,” she says. 

First, there were a few agility classes with her Labrador puppy Rosie at the local obedience club. Then, Dole and Rosie competed in a local trial; then, a regional competition. At each stage, Dole assumed that would be it and no more — but success continued to propel them forward. “You get hooked and reeled in,” she says.

By the time she was training with her third agility dog, another Labrador named Chelsea, Dole ended up competing for a U.S. team in the Netherlands. “Chelsea was the first and only Lab to compete in agility at that level for the United States,” says Dole. “She’s become a great ambassador for the breed in the sport.” In fact, Chelsea’s fans created the hashtag #LabOnABox, in support of her earning a place on the winners’ podium in a sport famously dominated by herding breeds like the border collie. Dole is devoted to owning Labs because “before they’re on the agility field, they’ve got to be good family dogs,” she says. “There’s a reason Labs are one of the most popular dog breeds in the country.”

Her success in agility shows no sign of slowing, with Dole and her dogs regularly competing in the Westminster dog show and other prestigious events. Their latest achievement in the agility world was the recent Purina Pro Plan Incredible Dog Challenge Eastern Regional in Clearwater, Florida, which will be televised on NBC stations on July 6^th.

A great thing to be able to do

As Dole’s veterinary career has allowed her all kinds of experiences and opportunities, she hopes that her scholarship can help CVM students have the same rich and varied experience in the profession. “My career gave me the life I wanted,” she says. “I want to help students achieve that too.” 

With her Donor Advised Fund (DAF), she is able to make contributions over five years at amounts and a schedule of her choosing, enabling tax benefits.  She says that this type of gift is far more accessible than people may realize. “You don’t have to be extravagantly wealthy to do this kind of philanthropy. I think most people don’t create one because it doesn't occur to them,” Dole says. “But it’s such a great thing to be able to do.”

Written by Lauren Cahoon Roberts