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CORVALLIS - The Emergency Board today released $3.82 million in funds that had been approved in the last session of the Oregon legislature to allow delivery of the entire four-year professional program of veterinary medical education at Oregon State University's College of Veterinary Medicine.

With this action, construction should begin by this summer on a new 30,000-square-foot hospital, laboratory and instructional facility focused on small animal medicine, said Dr. Howard Gelberg, dean of the college. It will be built near Magruder Hall on the Corvallis campus and completed by fall, 2003.

"We're very pleased that the funding for our new facility has now been finalized," Gelberg said. "Soon we'll be able to give the people of Oregon the type of full-service programs in veterinary education, research and public service that have been needed for many years."

Since its inception in the late 1970s, the college sent its students to Washington State University for much of their education. Small animal medicine and surgery is the largest and fastest growing field in veterinary medicine and has grown more complex over the years. The unusual educational approach used in Oregon - the only one of its type in the nation - has been a serious concern, Gelberg said.

With the program expansion, OSU will now have board-certified specialists to assist veterinarians all over the state with their most difficult cases. Research programs will also be expanded, public outreach efforts increased, the college will be able to educate 33 percent more students each year, and about $2 million in combined student tuition and state funds will now stay in the Oregon economy each year, instead of being spent in Washington.

The cost of the new facility will be met by the funds just released, private donations and $4 million in bonds. Even with this expansion, OSU's College of Veterinary Medicine will be the smallest and most economical college of its type in the United States, Gelberg said.

Many people across the state worked for decades to improve the programs offered by OSU's College of Veterinary Medicine, Gelberg said. Special thanks are also due, he said, to the co-sponsors of the legislation needed for this important step forward, Rep. Kurt Schrader of Canby and Sen. Ted Ferrioli of John Day.