The University of Findlay broke ground on Saturday, Sept. 6, for a new pre-veterinary facility that will enhance the hands-on experience that is a prized component of UF’s internationally acclaimed pre-vet program.

Pictured left to right: Dr. DeBow Freed, Dr. Farabee McCarthy, Dr. Linda Peck, Dr. Richard Beckett and Dr. Dan May

More than 100 people attended the groundbreaking for the Dr. C. Richard Beckett Animal Science Building, which will be situated at the University’s South Campus on State Route 68, adjacent to the Western Equestrian Farm on an 80-acre tract recently acquired by the University.

Dr. DeBow Freed, University president, noted that the institution has invested $1.5 million in the land and will spend $2.2 million on the facility, focusing on the same goal UF has for all its academic programs: “a first-rate educational experience for students.”

Dr. Beckett speaks to attendees.

Dr. Beckett, chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, said he was “born at the right time” in that as a young man he met a talented, charismatic horseman by the name of Dale Wilkinson, who originally owned the facility that became UF’s western equestrian farm, and for whom its main arena is named. He described his years working simultaneously in pre-veterinary medicine and with Wilkinson and others to develop the UF pre-veterinary program as “the happiest 40 years that anyone could spend in their life.” The event was also attended by animals residing at the pre-veterinary barn, wearing signs that read “Thank You for Our New Home!”

A cow, who resides at the south campus, expresses his gratitude with a sign that reads: “Thank you for our new home!”

The new facility will be an attractive, efficient, practical, high-quality, 31,000-square-foot learning environment that will, when completed, include two 50-seat classrooms, a laboratory, a pharmacy, a student lounge, locker rooms, offices, instructional demonstration areas, holding pens and other animal servicing areas. It will facilitate even more of the hands-on experience that has been enjoyed by UF pre-veterinary students for more than 25 years and is an important component of its new animal science major. That experience is one important reason why more than 60 percent of UF graduates are accepted into schools of veterinary medicine — nearly double the national rate — and have been accepted in all 28 of the country’s veterinary schools.

The Beckett Building will honor the efforts of Dr. Beckett for conceiving and helping to start the pre-veterinary program at the University nearly 30 years ago, and for his unending support of the program since then. Beckett, who currently serves as chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, is a veterinarian and president/owner of Animal Care Centers of America. He is a founding member of the Hancock County Humane Society and is active in professional, community and church organizations. He received his D.V.M. degree from The Ohio State University in 1960, later being named an OSU Distinguished Alumnus.

The facility will also feature the Peck-Kerns Academic Wing, honoring Dr. Linda M. Peck and Dr. Michael C. Kerns, longtime pre-vet faculty members.

Dr. Peck, D.V.M., director of pre-veterinary studies and professor of animal science, serves as career counselor for pre-veterinary students and teaches courses in biology and the pre-veterinary major. She has been a full-time faculty member since 1986 and continues to practice as an associate veterinarian with the Findlay Animal Hospital and Findlay Animal Care Center, Inc. Dr. Peck is a graduate of The Ohio State University, where she earned both a bachelor’s degree in animal science and a doctor of veterinary medicine degree, with emphasis in equine medicine and food animal medicine and surgery.

Dr. Kerns, D.V.M., professor of animal science, teaches animal handling and various other equine and pre-veterinary medicine courses and is coordinator of the pre-veterinary barn. He is the director of veterinary services and is responsible for preventive health programs and routine medicine and surgery of the animals. Dr. Kerns earned a doctor of veterinary medicine degree in 1981 from Ohio State.

The Beckett animal science building will be central to the University’s pre-veterinary medicine program, which with more than 340 majors is the largest academic major at the University.  It will replace the existing 100-year-old pre-vet barn and allow for consolidation of the program’s space and resources. The pre-vet program has been particularly beneficial to two important businesses in the state by helping to provide veterinarians to corporate farms and to large-animal care clinics.

To view a Web album featuring photographs from the ceremony, click here.