The Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences came together with the Texas A&M University System and Texas A&M University administrators on Wednesday to hold a groundbreaking ceremony in honor of the beginning of the construction for the Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Education Complex.
Chancellor John Sharp said the $120 million dollar project will be coupled with the expansion of the Texas A&M small animal hospital and will go down as one of he largest construction projects on the modern A&M campus.
Sharp said the funding for the project came from the Permanent University Fund, a trust that was created in the Texas Constitution of 1876 as a public endowment to fund the maintenance of the campuses of public Texas universities.
This is one of the largest projects ever built in the history of the Texas A&M University campus,” Sharp said. “We will continue to produce 10 percent of all the it will be the best in the nation, it will be the most beautiful in the nation, and it will be full of energy.”
Provost Karan Watson said the research and service of the A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences is invaluable to the art complex will help further scientific and University interests.
“When there are emergencies in the state, when there are hurricanes, when there are fires, these faculty, these students are there to serve,” Watson said. “We can’t be a great Texas A&M University without a great college, and this building is what they deserve.”
Ricci Karkula, graduate student in the A&M Veterinary School and the president of the A&M Student American Veterinary Medical Association, said the new building will serve to help both undergraduate and graduate students receive even more experience and leadership opportunities to work in their aspiring veterinary field.
The addition of the new facilities with the latest in technology and paired with the beautiful setting will complement the education process and foster even greater potential for learning and leadership opportunities,” Karkula said.
The groundbreaking of the new complex was followed in succession with the grand opening and ribbon cutting of the Thomas G. Hildebrand, DVM ’56 Equine Complex, a project started in November of 2012 meant to be one of the top equine science education and research complexes in the world.
Dr. Eleanor Green, Dean of Veterinary Medicine, said the new Veterinary & Biomedical Sciences Education Complex is set to open in 2016, the year the A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences will be celebrating its centennial anniversary.
“The gather for the grand opening,” Green said. “And how grand it will be. How befitting it will be completed in 2016, the year of our 100th year anniversary of the college.”