The Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine is expecting to see a loss of 30 to 40 percent of its professors over the next 10 years, according to the Cornell Daily Sun.

The loss reflects a Cornell university-wide trend in faculty turnover.

According to the Sun, finding faculty who can continue the prestige of the veterinary school is one of the most pressing issues facing the college in 2012.

Over the past three years, the veterinary college lost 20 percent of its funding from the State University of New York, according to veterinary Dean Michael Kotlikoff, who spoke at the State of the College address in November 2011.

Thirty-five percent of the veterinary school’s faculty is over the age of 60, and nearly 60 percent over the age of 55.

According to the Sun, the college is unable to hire extra faculty at this time because of the recent cutes, and must instead rely on quickly filling positions as professors announce their retirement.

However, the college is working to alleviate some of the pain caused by faculty retirements.

Though the college doesn’t have the budget to hire extra faculty members in anticipation of retirements, the college has begun recruiting new department chairs and has given them the responsibility of hiring new people to fill positions within their departments in order to get a jumpstart on the position filling process.

Filling positions on a case-by-case basis will allow the college to be selective in choosing the right people to fill positions left by retiring professors, the Sun reported. The college has also used donations such as a recent $10 million gift to endow faculty positions in specific departments.

Read more on the changing face of the Cornell veterinary faculty from the Cornell Daily Sun.