Vernon and Shirley Hill Pledge $10 Million to Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine
Monday, October 03, 2005
PHILADELPHIA -- Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania , and Alan Kelly, dean of Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine, have announced a $10 million gift from Vernon and Shirley Hill to the School of Veterinary Medicine.
The gift will be used toward the completion of a new teaching and research center, currently under construction, to be called The Vernon and Shirley Hill Pavilion. The building will open in the fall of 2006 and is the first new Penn Veterinary Medicine building in Philadelphia in 25 years.
Vernon W. Hill II is the founder and chairman of Commerce Bancorp, Inc. Shirley Hill is the founder and president of InterArch, an architecture and design firm in Mt. Laurel , N.J. The Hills are residents of Moorestown , N.J. Vernon Hill is a graduate of the Wharton School at Penn.
The Hill Pavilion will be the new academic center of the Penn School of Veterinary Medicine. It will contain five floors, including surgery centers, teaching and library space, research laboratories and a vivarium. It will be the state-of-the-art veterinary teaching and research facility in the world.
"The gift from the Hills," said Amy Gutmann, president of Penn, “is the largest gift the Veterinary School has ever received from a living donor. It allows us to continue and expand the world-class teaching and research mission of the School.”
"The Hills share with us our vision of the world"s premier veterinary educational center,” said Alan Kelly, the School’s dean, “and they recognize the importance of the school. This new building has been one of my primary goals, and I thank the Hills for their support.”
Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine is one of the world's premier veterinary schools. Founded in 1884, the School was built on the concept of Many Species, One Medicine™. The birthplace of veterinary specialties, the School serves a distinctly diverse array of animal patients, from pets to horses to farm animals at our two campuses. In Philadelphia, on Penn's campus, are the Matthew J. Ryan Veterinary Hospital for companion animals, as well as classrooms, laboratories and the School's administrative offices. The large-animal facility, New Bolton Center, in Kennett Square, Pa., encompasses hospital facilities for the care of horses and food animals as well as diagnostic laboratories serving the agriculture industry. The School has successfully integrated scholarship and scientific discovery with all aspects of veterinary medical education.
Visit us on-line at www.vet.upenn.edu