A $15 million gift from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) will support a building project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM).

According to the announcement, the project will include a new building that will be connected to a remodeled current building, allowing the school to overcome severe space shortages.

Approval of the expansion project was signed into law in July 2019 in the state of Wisconsin’s 2019-21 budget. The budget calls for SVM to provide $38 million in private gift support toward the project, with the state providing $90 million. With WARF’s $15 million investment, the school has surpassed the $38 million needed to allow the building project to be bid in the spring of 2021, the announcement said.

“We are thrilled to be able to move forward and break ground on this essential expansion and renovation, which will ensure that the school remains a global leader in training the next generation of veterinarians, serving animal patients and making critical research discoveries,” SVM dean Mark D. Markel said. “We are grateful for WARF’s generous gift and continued partnership with the school and university to fuel innovation and for the support of the state and our many building donors.”

The SVM building expansion will improve instruction space for students, double the size of the school’s small-animal hospital and significantly enhance its large animal hospital, expand labs for studying naturally occurring animal and human diseases, increase and modernize infectious disease research space and more.

“We are pleased to support this addition and renovation to allow SVM to continue its trajectory of excellence,” WARF chief executive officer Erik Iverson said. “The school performs globally vital research that generates important breakthroughs for not only animal but also human health.”

Design for the building project has begun, and construction is expected to begin in the summer of 2021, with a projected completion of the addition in 2023 and renovations to the existing building in 2024. Fundraising will continue for specialized equipment required by the hospital and researchers that is not included in the project budget, the announcement said.

“With these enhanced facilities, the impact that the School of Veterinary Medicine has on the state, its citizens and their animals — as well as the world — will only continue to grow,” Markel said.

WARF, the nation’s oldest technology transfer office, is devoted to obtaining and licensing patents for university research and advancing transformative discoveries to the marketplace. WARF regularly partners with SVM faculty, staff and students on bringing new discoveries to the market to benefit the world.

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