Contacts:
Tracy Ann Raef, College of Veterinary Medicine, 515-294-4602
October 19, 2011
AMES, Iowa — A lead gift from a long-time Iowa State University supporter will help fund the ongoing major expansion and renovation project to the Small Animal Hospital in the College of Veterinary Medicine.
The Lied Foundation Trust of Las Vegas, Nev., through its trustee, native Iowan Christina Hixson, has provided a $3 million gift to the project. The facility will be known as the Hixson-Lied Small Animal Hospital, pending approval by the Board of Regents, State of Iowa.
The project, which is currently under construction at the veterinary medicine complex, will add more than 17,000 square feet of new space, while renovating more than 88,000 square feet of space in the existing building that were vacated when large animal services moved to a new building in 2008. Project completion is expected in the fall of 2012.
Expansion and renovation of the Hixson Small Animal Hospital will provide a state-of-the-art facility that will continue the tradition of outstanding diagnosis, treatment and care provided by outstanding veterinarians, faculty and staff and students.
“The new hospital will more than double the size of the current small animal hospital and provide an outstanding, state-of-the-art environment in which to serve our clients and their animals, and to practice, teach and learn veterinary medicine,” said Dr. Lisa K. Nolan, the Dr. Stephen G. Juelsgaard Dean of Veterinary Medicine. “We are extremely grateful to the Lied Foundation Trust and Ms. Hixson for their generosity.”
Included in the new and renovated facility are exam and treatment rooms; species-specific waiting areas; intensive and emergency care; clinical laboratories, canine rehabilitation and pharmacy; diagnostic imaging, surgery and anesthesia suites; and faculty and staff offices.
The $45.1 million estimated project cost has been made possible through bonding approved by the Iowa Legislature and more than $5 million in private support. This follows construction of the 108,000 square foot, $48 million large animal hospital completed in 2008. Both hospitals are part of the Dr. W. Eugene and Linda Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center.
The Lied Foundation Trust has been a longtime supporter of Iowa State. The Hixson Opportunity Awards Program is a need-based scholarship program that was established in 1995 by Hixson to help students with the ability and desire to pursue a college degree but who face significant hurdles because of personal and financial hardships. The Hixson Program annually supports 400 Iowa State students, four from each county in Iowa.
In 2006, the Lied Foundation Trust made a lead $5 million gift for the construction of the Hixson-Lied Student Success Center, which houses the Christina Hixson Opportunity Awards Program, the Rod and Connie French Athletic Academic Center, and the Academic Success Center.