Colorado State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences has announced plans for a $278 million upgrade and expansion of its veterinary medicine and education facilities in Fort Collins.
The university says new and renovated facilities will enable the college to carry out a progressive new curriculum while enlarging class sizes.
Construction of the new veterinary health complex is expected to begin early next year and be completed in phases through 2028. The 300,000-plus-square-foot expansion will include a veterinary education center and a primary care clinic.
Renovations or expansions of existing spaces will include a livestock teaching hospital and an animal specialty hospital. The existing James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital, originally constructed in 1978, will undergo a remodel and become the animal specialty hospital in support of clinical education and service.
The expanded primary care clinic in the veterinary health complex will be the keystone of the new curriculum, educating more students in small animal clinical practice while meeting increased market demands for regional and national veterinary care.
The adjacent animal specialty hospital will provide enhanced emergency and critical care, cardiovascular and surgical care, and orthopedic and rehabilitation programs, as well as expansion of the Flint Animal Cancer Center. In addition, the existing livestock clinical and teaching space will be replaced by a new facility adjacent to the recently opened Johnson Family Equine Hospital.
In response to the ongoing demand for veterinarians across both large- and small-animal specialties, the Fort Collins Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) class size is also anticipated to grow by around 30 students, to a total of about 170.
