Texas A&M regents approve $120 million for veterinary hospital expansion, classrooms

COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS — The Texas A&M University (TAMU) System Board of Regents will spend $120 million to expand its small-animal hospital and construct a new building to house classrooms and a teaching laboratory.

TAMU officials say the renovation and new building will provide opportunities for teaching innovation and will nurture collaboration and creativity in veterinary education.

Site visits from the American Veterinary Medical Association's Council on Education and Texas A&M administrators noted the need for improvements in the college's teaching facilities, especially to keep pace with "the dynamic growth in the veterinary profession."

"The new facility represents a tremendous opportunity to bring the latest in teaching technology to the College of Veterinary Medicine and to Texas A&M University," says CVM Dean Eleanor Green. "We are very excited that the Board of Regents and the administration of Texas A&M University have decided to invest in the future of our college, our faculty and our students. The impact of having state-of-the-art teaching and clinical facilities will be felt not only by those who receive their education here in the future, but also by those that we serve."

The $120 million needed for completion of both facilities will be funded solely by the Permanent University Fund, which was established in the Texas Constitution of 1876 as a public endowment contributing to the support of the institutions of the Texas A&M and University of Texas Systems.

Veterinary school administrators will now begin planning and designing both projects, but a completion date has not yet been determined.

"In 2016, we will be celebrating our 100th anniversary," Green says. "It would be outstanding if we were able to step into our new facilities as we step into a new century."