Penn breaks ground on Gail P. Riepe Center for Advanced Veterinary Education

On a sunny, 71° day in Kennett Square, the School of Veterinary Medicine and broader University of Pennsylvania community celebrated the milestone groundbreaking of the Gail P. Riepe Center for Advanced Veterinary Education, a clinical skills center that will usher in a new era of teaching and learning at Penn Vet.

The 11,800-square-foot facility will be the first dedicated classroom building at New Bolton Center, Penn Vet’s large-animal hospital. Plans for the project—with an anticipated completion date of next spring—include high-fidelity veterinary simulators, flexible multimodal classroom spaces to accommodate modern teaching needs, and meeting and gathering spaces.

“The research that goes on at Penn Vet not only informs the care that will take place here but informs the rest of the world in the best practices in veterinary medicine,” said Penn President J. Larry Jameson. He added that Penn Vet provides much-needed clinical services to animals throughout the region and that its diagnostic laboratories are “a critical resource not only for animal safety but for human safety.” Jameson noted that these services are an important part of the One Health program “that has been championed so powerfully here at Penn Vet.”

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In July 2020, Penn Vet announced a $6 million leadership gift for the new facility from College of Women alumna Gail Riepe and Wharton School alumnus Jim Riepe, who also received an honorary degree in 2010. Both have been active at Penn for many years. Gail Riepe has been a longtime member of Penn Vet’s Board of Advisors and co-chaired the school’s recent fundraising campaign. Jim Riepe has chaired both the University’s Board of Trustees and the Penn Medicine Board.

“The two of you together really do epitomize so many of the attributes of the University of Pennsylvania, so we’re very, very grateful for your support and your leadership,” Jameson said.

The Riepe Center is emblematic of Penn’s commitment to cultivating leaders who serve and to leading on the challenges of climate and health—as laid out in Penn’s strategic framework In Principle and Practice.

Gail Riepe recalled when she visited New Bolton Center a decade ago, it was clear “there was a big need for a larger facility for students and faculty to teach and learn.” Penn Vet Dean Andrew M. Hoffman noted that she facilitated conversations with students that informed critical decisions about room design and technology. All fourth-year VMD students participate in a large-animal rotation at New Bolton Center, working alongside faculty and residents.

“The Riepe Center will be a unique and inspiring student-centered learning space among our peers,” Hoffman said, “a convening space that not only engages our educational community but also inspires public engagement and outreach from the school to our stakeholders in the animal agriculture industry, Penn Vet alumni, the public and local community, and Commonwealth officials.”

The building will include two classrooms gifted by Robert “Rob” Marookian, whose father, Edgar, worked on dairy farms and in veterinary pharmaceuticals after graduating from Penn Vet in 1954. The rooms are named in memory of Robert Marookian’s mother, Myrval, and brother, Edgar.

“While I will not be taught in the building we are celebrating today, I can share from experience how much of a difference the investments in education make for students like me and students of Penn Vet,” said Scarlett Loya, a fourth-year veterinary student who will begin an equine ambulatory internship in Lexington, Kentucky, in a few weeks. “Knowing that there are people who are deeply invested in our futures and the future of veterinary medicine is motivating for us to do our best while we’re here and strive for excellence in our careers ahead.”

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Noting that Penn Vet launched its new curriculum in 2022, with a focus on introducing clinical skills starting in students’ first year, Penn Vet’s associate dean for education Amy Durham said the Center will transform the learning environment at New Bolton Center and at the school overall. “The Riepe Center will foster a comprehensive learning experience that will bridge the theoretical knowledge that we impart through didactic lectures in the classroom with practical application and ultimately prepare our students for clinics and beyond,” said Durham.

New Bolton Center hospital director and associate dean for clinical education and operations Barbara Dallap Schaer said a large classroom in the building will also allow Penn Vet “to offer educational experiences for those in our local community who are dedicated to all disciplines that intersect with veterinary medicine, be it the health of the individual companion animal, herd health and productivity, stewardship agriculture and food security, or translational medicine.”

The facility is a keystone project within a larger vision for New Bolton Center, Hoffman said. During construction of the Riepe Center, Penn Vet will continue progress on the master plan for New Bolton Center by advancing the design phase of a new Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and seeking funding for a major renovation of the Large Animal Hospital.