September 2012 Update

This summer posed the perfect opportunity for our team to progress with the development of the new Education Facility. The past couple of months we have held casual meetings with nearly fifty architectural firms to give them a preview of our project with the hope that each firm would gain a better understanding of our vision for this new facility. Once we presented a general overview, the firms were able to decide if the project was feasible for them and something they would be interested in submitting their qualifications for when the time came. Each meeting also presented a learning opportunity for our team, as every firm brought innovative ideas to the table and different concepts to our attention. This summer has been beneficial in gathering as much information as possible from these professionals and has had a significant impact on the development of this project.

The Request for Qualifications (RFQ) went out on July 10, 2012. Because of the initial casual meetings, a majority of the architectural firms that submitted their qualifications were already familiar with the project requirements. Once RFQ submissions were received, we proceeded with the interview phase and progressed with who we thought to be the top contenders. The interviews were highly successful and extremely informative. We hope to have a firm selected soon so that we can begin the in-depth planning, design, and construction of the new facility.

In an effort to be good stewards of the money the state has granted us, and to use it as creatively and effectively as possible, we visited various facilities at other major universities. We sent two teams this summer to gather information from other campuses and to capture inspiring and innovative ideas.

The first team, consisting of Dr. Eleanor Green, Dr. Kenita Rogers, Dr. Dan Posey, Dr. Anton Hoffman, Dr. Roger Smith, Sam Wigington, Heather Quiram, and Alex Araujo, visited Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, University of California Davis School of Medicine, and University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. The second team visited North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine and University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine and included Dr. Sandee Hartsfield, Dr. John August, Dr. David Nelson, Kate Nelson, Sam Wigington, Heather Quiram, and Dana Heath. These visits to our fellow universities allowed our team to gain tremendous insight into the innovations of the architectural world and sparked creativity to be applied to our project.

This summer has also been an opportunity to gather feedback from a consumer perspective. We have met with many groups from our College in order to survey the expectations from the end-users of this facility. As we have said from the beginning, the inclusion of students, faculty, and staff will be extremely important and critical to the success of this project. The following is a list of groups that we have met with:

• BIMS
• Continuing Education
• Creative Technologies
• DCVM
• Information Technologies
• Public Relations
• Teaching Laboratory Group
• VIBS
• VLCS
• VSCS
• VTPB
• VTPP

With all of this progress, please keep in mind that this is still a very fluid process and there are a lot of ideas floating around. We are waiting for the new architectural team to come on board to help us solidify some of these ideas by figuring out what will truly work efficiently and effectively to create a functional facility for all of us.

If you feel that your department or student group has not yet been given the chance to contribute or provide input on this project, please e-mail Heather Quiram at hquiram@cvm.tamu.edu and we would love to set up a time to talk to you! Also, please take the time to fill out a SURVEY so we can consider your feedback in the development of this new facility.