The largest corporate gift in the history of the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine will fund a major makeover of Mosier Hall.
The size of the donation from food maker Hill’s Pet Nutrition was not disclosed, but KSNT-TV reported the gift was more than $2 million.
Some 16,000 square feet inside Mosier Hall will be renovated to create the Pet Health & Nutrition Center on the first floor, a research suite on the second floor and additional classrooms. The building now houses the Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital and the department of veterinary clinical sciences.
The Pet Health & Nutrition Center will replace Frick Auditorium. A 270-seat auditorium will be built elsewhere.
“We are truly excited and grateful to Hill’s for partnering with us to provide this opportunity to teach primary care skills in a facility more representative of a true companion animal practice,” said clinical professor Susan Nelson, DVM. “The new facility will allow us to be more feline friendly and enhance student training in all areas of primary care, especially in the areas of nutrition, communication, business management, diagnostics and routine surgical procedures.”
Hill’s is headquartered in Topeka, about an hour’s drive east of the Manhattan, Kansas, campus.
“Kansas State is an important partner for Hill’s Pet Nutrition as it harbors one of the most important veterinary schools in the Midwest of the U.S.,” said Jesper Nordengaard, vice president and general manager of Hill’s US.
The college’s interim dean, Bonnie Rush, DVM, said the project “will strengthen our training program in nutrition and primary care, and will attract student externs from colleges of veterinary medicine across North America.”
Construction work is expected to start in the summer of 2019. The completion date has not been determined.