Everyone who has showed up during peak hours at RWC has had to park in the back lot, and if they’ve done so in the past few months, they’ve noticed a half-completed building on the northeast edge of the lot. The project is the new Veterinary Tech building, the new home of UC’s veterinary program. The building, spanning around 11,000 square feet and costing $3.2 million, will house 60 students and five staff members in September. The construction itself will be completed by the end of July, which is ahead of schedule.
“We’ll have doors soon,” says Gene Kramer, head of Facilities Management. But doors aren’t the only feature on the agenda for the building. Each type of animal (dogs, cats, rabbits, and rodents) will have its own room. An outdoor playing area will provide dogs with fresh air and room to run around. Also, if no rabbits or rodents show up for a certain period of time, their room will be converted temporarily into a playroom for other animals.
There will also be four offices for the five staff and two locker rooms. Since students in the Veterinary Tech program are primarily female, the male locker room is roughly one-quarter the size of the women’s room, but both will accommodate the student body.