Penn Vet Holds Ribbon-Cutting for New Gail P. Riepe Center for Advanced Veterinary Education

The University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) celebrated the opening of the Gail P. Riepe Center for Advanced Veterinary Education at New Bolton Center in Chester County with a ribbon-cutting ceremony held on August 25^th. Reflecting Penn Vet’s newly designed curriculum, the 11,800-square-foot clinical skills center is the first dedicated classroom space on the Kennett Square campus and the first new building at New Bolton Center since 2010 ─ the first installment in a three-project redevelopment of the North campus.

Penn Vet’s Gilbert S. Kahn Dean of Veterinary Medicine, Andrew M. Hoffman, DVM, DVSc, DACVIM, opened the event, welcoming Gail and Jim Riepe and their daughter, Christa, guests, students, faculty, and staff. In his opening remarks, Hoffman reflected on Benjamin Franklin, founder of the University of Pennsylvania.

“Ben Franklin had strong views on learning spaces. He favored a healthy location and natural environments rather than cramped, dark quarters. He valued outdoor spaces like gardens and orchards so that students could learn practical skills,” noted Hoffman. “You need only experience the Riepe Center, inside and out, on such a beautiful day as today, to recognize that all of these elements have come together to Ben Franklin’s specifications.”

“The Riepe Center was years in the making, and in the years ahead will transform New Bolton Center,” said Hoffman. “Thank you, Gail, Jim, and Christa Riepe, for your lead gift for the center and for your longstanding commitment to our community and to veterinary medicine.”

To support pre-clinical and clinical students during their experience, the building features wet and dry simulation labs where students practice procedures on large- and small-animal high- and low-fidelity models and build competency. Dedicated breakout rooms host clinical student rounds, and the facility is anchored by the multipurpose classroom, which accommodates up to 124 and serves as a venue for large presentations or small-group sessions.

“Today Penn Vet takes a major step forward in student learning, leveraging high-fidelity models and the use of simulation materials to master skills in a low-stress environment,” said New Bolton Center’s Associate Dean of Clinical Education and Operations, Barbara Dallap Schaer, VMD, DACVS, DACVECC. “Penn Vet students will be more prepared to confidently care for their patients and competently enter the workforce thanks to the generosity of Gail and Jim Riepe.”

New Bolton Center’s Associate Director of Academic and Community Affairs, Liz Arbittier, VMD, CVA, highlighted the building’s purpose-built spaces for hands-on learning, including a fabrication lab and 3D-printing center.

“We stop solely being end users, and now finally have the opportunity to become innovative developers,” said Arbittier. “A CT taken by our own diagnostic imaging team on Monday can be segmented, printed, and in a resident and student’s hands by Friday.”

Arbittier urged the students in attendance to take advantage of the Center.

“This building is not just a gift to the institution. It is a gift to you, and to the students coming behind you. Use every inch of it,” said Arbittier. “To Gail and Jim, whose vision and generosity made this real: on behalf of our students and our instructors, and on behalf of our future students who we haven’t even met yet, we thank you.”

At the end of the ceremony, Hoffman presented the family with a painting of the building to mark the occasion, before Gail Riepe led the students and guests into the building for a tour and luncheon. 

View more photos from the event here.

About the Riepe Center

The vision for the Riepe Center was born out of close partnership with its namesake and longtime Penn Vet supporter, Gail P. Riepe, CW’68. In July 2020, the school announced a leadership gift for the facility from Gail and her husband Jim, W’65, WG’67, HON’10. The facility, designed by KSS Architects, contains a flexible classroom for lecture and training formats; a clinical skills lab with wet and dry labs; a fabrication lab; and seminar rooms. Featuring a “living room” for student gatherings and relaxation, the building incorporates a biophilic design with clearstory windows and an emphasis on natural materials, including exposed wood roof decking, window trim, and wall paneling. Grass areas and stormwater basins are landscaped as meadows, featuring Pennsylvania native grasses and wildflowers. The facility, which is pursuing LEED Silver Certification, has ten EV charging stations in the parking area. Read more about the Riepe Center in Penn Today and in Bellwether magazine.

About New Bolton Center

Nationally renowned for advancing equine surgery and medicine, Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center serves as the cornerstone of Pennsylvania’s equine sector economy among the 10-county Southeastern region of the Commonwealth. With more than 6,100 large-animal cases last year, students experience a breadth of equine clinical rotations and performance specialties unmatched by any of the country’s 38 veterinary schools. New Bolton Center’s Field Service, the school’s large-animal ambulatory practice, treated nearly 24,000 patients, offering on-farm preventative health care, reproductive services, and diagnostic and emergency services. The Center’s campus includes a swine center, a working dairy, a poultry unit, and state-supported laboratories that support all eight major subsectors of Pennsylvania’s agriculture economy.