In a move that benefits students interested in veterinary medicine and their pets, the University Board of Trustees approved the budget and design plans for the College of Veterinary Medicine's Small Animal Teaching Hospital Friday, Feb. 5.
The 158,000 square foot facility will allow an increase in enrollment in the College of Veterinary Medicine and will compete with any and all other small animal hospitals.
"If this is not the finest facility in the world, it will be among the finest," said Timothy Boosinger, dean
of the College of Veterinary Medicine.
The College of Veterinary Medicine plans to place the $70 million project on the main campus of the Veterinary Medicine complex. The project will be financed through private gifts, the sale of bonds and state funds from Alabama and Kentucky, according to the facility budget plan.
SGA President Jacob Watkins said the new addition to the College of Veterinary Medicine will be highly beneficial.
"It will certainly get them a lot of recognition, a lot of research and state grants," Watkins said. "Their probably going to be the best in the nation, as far as small animal care goes."
The Board of Trustees also approved an increase in on-campus housing rates.
Watkins said the housing rate increase is not something for students to worry about.
"They want to increase the housing rate between three and five percent," Watkins said. "They do that every year and our rates are still way below average compared to other schools in the Southeast."
In another housing related move, the Board of Trustees changed their donation policy for building name opportunities in The Village. Donors must now give $1 million for the right to name a dormitory, $5 million for the naming rights to The Village complex and $3 million for the opportunity to name The Village dining hall.
Formerly, donor who wanted the opportunity to name a dormitory in The Village would have paid 51 percent of the construction costs, $6 million.
Watkins said this drop in price will ultimately benefit Auburn.
"With the economy the way it is right now you wouldn't get a donor," Watkins said. "These private gifts make a difference, especially with the decline in (U.S.) Senate donations."
The Board of Trustees was also given an update on the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) Longitudinal Study.
The CLA study is a multi-univeristy study designed to test the intellectual and analytical gains of collegiates during their academic career.
Drew Clark, the director of institutional research and assessment, said Auburn students showed "meaningful" improvement in all of the areas of testing.
Clark said the most significant observations of the study were that Auburn University students get better at key intellectual and academic skills, the Auburn learning dividend is substantial in comparison with other schools in the study and continuing improvement in these key skill areas is both a feasible and a worthy goal.
"In the question of, 'Do Auburn students improve while they are here?'" Clark said. "The answer is definitively yes."
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