The Texas A&M University Board of Regents announced the construction of a new Veterinary Education, Research and Outreach (VERO) center at West Texas A&M.
The new VERO center is set to cost $22.8 million and will be constructed adjacent to WTAMU’s new Agricultural Sciences Complex. A veterinary medical lab will be added as part of the new additions. The entire project is set to cost over $90 million and was designed to support veterinary research at WTAMU.
Dr. Eleanor Green, the Carl B. King Dean of Veterinary Medicine at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, helped put this partnership together.
“The research facilities house researchers who explore significant problems in animal and human health, while finding and sharing solutions in the Texas Panhandle, throughout Texas, across the nation, and around the world,” Green said. “By linking our campuses and regions, we are pooling capabilities to make available to the Texas Panhandle the resources of the Texas A&M CVM, including the talents of approximately 300 veterinary faculty.”
The project is estimated to be completed in 2020 and will provide a main pillar for veterinary students in Canyon, Texas, to participate, take courses and conduct research. The new VERO Complex will be available for both West Texas A&M students and Texas A&M students.
A&M System Chancellor John Sharp said in a statement that the project will provide tremendous benefits for students at both schools.
“We have created a two-way superhighway of veterinary education and research activity from Canyon to College Station, and it runs right through these new structures,” Sharp said.
This project is part of a nine-year commitment to expand veterinary research, education and outreach through the TAMU system.
West Texas A&M University President Walter Wendler said he is trying to bring in more expansion and growth for other programs at WTAMU.
“When we first announced this partnership, we indicated that we wanted to increase enrollment of promising future veterinarians from the Panhandle area, knowing that they were more likely to return and work in this area following graduation,” Wendler said. “By bringing the College of Veterinary Medicine to West Texas, those students won’t have to wait until after they graduate to come home and begin making a difference.”
The focus of the partnership was its location, which is the epicenter of the livestock industry. Wendler hired Dr. Dee Griffin and Dr. Dan Posey to help build the program and bring in students.
“Having these shared resources will create and support, for many years to come, the best food animal veterinarian education and research program in the nation and the world,” Green said. “The combined investment and shared expertise at WTAMU, TAMU and the TVMDL, along with partnering with local veterinarians through externships and internships, will contribute to this excellence in veterinary medicine.”