PHILADELPHIA -- Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine received a Kresge Foundation challenge grant of $1.5 million for its new Teaching and Research Building. To obtain the grant funds, the School must raise $13 million by October 1, 2005. Challenge-earning gifts may be directed to any School initiative or priority.

This Kresge Foundation challenge grant is the largest ever made to a school of veterinary medicine. It is also the first Kresge grant at the University of Pennsylvania since 1990, when the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology received a grant of $850,000.

The School is engaged in a comprehensive $100-million fundraising campaign of which the new building is the center piece. "The Kresge Foundation grant comes at a pivotal moment in our Building New Levels of Excellence campaign," says Alan M. Kelly, the Gilbert S. Kahn Dean of Veterinary Medicine. "It provides an impetus for us to broaden our support base and encourages our volunteers to become even more involved with the School."

The Kresge Foundation awards grants toward projects involving construction or renovation of facilities and the purchase of major capital equipment or real estate. At the time of the June 2004 grant announcements, the Foundation had awarded 79 grants in 2004 for a total of $45,094,354. The Kresge Foundation, based in Troy, Michigan, is an independent, private foundation created by the personal gifts of Sebastian S. Kresge. It is not affiliated with any corporation or organization.