Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine

'SCOPES MAGAZINE JULY 2012 | 1 Facelifts Foundations and S clinical and research demands led to the College's relocation from central to east campus in the 1950s and the subsequent creation of what was then the new hospital and teaching complex in the 1990s. However, historic Schurman Hall and James Law auditorium, where students still learn anatomy, have tutorials, do student surgeries, attend larger lectures, and put on musicals, dance performances, skits, and auctions, have not changed much since their completion in 1957 and are badly in need of rejuvenation. This summer, the College will initiate the first capital project within our teaching complex in more than two, and the first comprehensive renovation of Schurman Hall in more than five, decades. The project has been prioritized within the SUNY capital plan and comprises an exciting rethinking of our original academic building. As an anchor at the east end of Tower Road and the main doorway to our university collaborators, this is a major project for the College of Veterinary Medicine and the University and one that promises to begin an extended revitalization of our teaching spaces that will enhance student facilities; decompress overcrowded lecture halls; enhance interactions between students, faculty, and staff; and enable exciting demonstrations and public meetings that are secure from our hospital activities. ince the College's founding, Cornell has recognized the need for first-class facilities that support our programs in teaching, research, and patient care. Accommodation of expanding A history of change Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine was originally housed in the middle of campus, in what is now Ives Hall. At the time, the building was one of the most innovative and spacious veterinary facilities in the country, serving a total of approximately 300 students and faculty and supporting the entire teaching, research, and service needs of a program mainly dedicated to large animal medicine. Since then, the College has grown and diversified to meet society's changing needs. Dean George C. Poppensiek spearheaded the construction of the Veterinary Research Tower, which opened in 1974, and Dean Edward Melby fought courageously for a new teaching hospital that was critical to preserving the College's standing and meeting the challenges and opportunities of expanding clinical programs. And after many years of planning, the New York State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory opened in 2010, uniting multiple diagnostic services that had been in separate facilities. Currently many of the College's major teaching facilities, including tutorial rooms and spaces dedicated to teaching anatomy and student surgery, still reside in the original 1957 structure, which desperately needs renovation and is served by mechanical systems that are beyond their lifespan. Locker rooms and bathrooms that were appropriate for the gender distribution of classes in 1957 are currently augmented by temporary facilities. And the move of necropsy, histopathology, and parasitology from Schurman Hall and the "Old DL" to the new Animal Health Diagnostic Center building left more than 30,000 square feet of unoccupied space in the core of our complex, space that remains unused and unusable.

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