Imagine having a class in a room that is nearly a century old.
For students in the School of VeterinaryÿMedicine, it's not simply a matterÿof imagination -- it's a reality.
The buildings where the school's students spend their first two-and-a-half years have been in use for anywhere from 40 to 93 years and cannot meet the demands of modern technology. These facilities rank among the most inadequate teaching spaces of any veterinary school in North America.
However, plans for new facilities equipped with technology and research capabilities are in the preliminary stages of development.
With over $35 million already raised, the Veterinary School is well on its way toward reaching its goal of the $48 million needed to build the new Teaching and Research Building.
Two state-of-the-art lecture halls seating 150 students, a library extending over two levels that will house research materials and banks of computers, research laboratories and seminar rooms are just some of the ways in which the spaces provided by the new building will be utilized.
The building will be situated on a triangular plot of property bounded by 38th Street, Woodland Avenue and Baltimore Avenue.
The idea for a new building was born about four to five years ago, out of the increasing "pressing need for space," according to Veterinary School spokeswoman Helma Weeks.ÿThe administration recognized the fact that new facilities were needed, and students were vocal about their concerns.
"What we have is very outdated," Weeks said.ÿ"Things are getting tight, and though we have been renovating certain spaces, we need new facilities."
Another reason for the development of a new building stems from the desire toÿbe able to recruit new faculty.
"We knew that a lot of the faculty would be retiring in the next 10 years, and so to recruit new faculty, we needed to provide them withÿbigger space and capabilities for research," Veterinary Vice DeanÿBarry Stupine said.
The labs will house the disciplines of medical genetics, infectious diseases, comparative oncology and germ cell biology, which constitute the "future of veterinary research," as Development Director Mark Stewart put it.
"We have some really good research groups, and we need new space for these researchers," Stewart said.
By creating a facility in which these four areas of study can continue to progress, the Teaching and Research Building will also allow for an exchange of ideas and information.
"The building will connect our centers of excellence," Weeks said. "Clinical and basic science faculty work together in research, and this new building will enable everyone to have better and closer exchange since right now everyone is scattered."
Though the building is still in its developmental stage, a feasibility study has been conducted by the architecture firm Weiss/Manfredi.
Weiss/Manfredi created a rough design of what the building may cost and what it may look like and include, after interviewing administration and faculty members about what they need out of such a building. Their tentative design for a complete building would cost an estimated $62 million.
However, since the Veterinary School does not have the financial resources toÿachieve this task, only $48 million will be spent, with one of the three research laboratory levels only "prepped for completion and left as a shell," Stewart said.
Funding for the Teaching and Research Building has come from various foundations, Penn graduates andÿsupporters of the school's research.
Former clients of the Veterinary School have also made contributions towards the funding for the new building. The late Mary Opsuth,ÿa former long-time client at the Veterinary Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, provided at least $500,000 for a laboratory for medicine clinicians in the new building through her estate. The laboratory will be named in her memory.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was another significant benefactor, which granted the school $18ÿmillion as long as twice that amount is paid by the University. This was one of the state's largest commitments to a capital building project to support veterinary medicine in recent years, according to Stewart.
"My expectation is that we will complete funding by June 2003, then break ground for the building," Stewart said.ÿ"It takes two years to outfit the building, so by fall 2005, we should be in the building, barring any unforeseen problems."
In addition to fulfilling the need for space and technological capabilities, the Teaching and Research Building will also add to the long-term purpose of the Veterinary School.
"It will make the Vet School remain the preeminent vet school it is," Stupine said.ÿ"We must have the new science classrooms and labs to stay number one, and it will give us the ability to let our world class scientists do what they do best."
