Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J., has broken ground on what will be the state’s first veterinary school.
NJ.com reports that the $154 million,108,000-square-foot facility will include a teaching hospital and laboratories.
It will be the 34th veterinary college in the United States and only the sixth on the East Coast, officials said.
The school will be named the Shreiber School of Veterinary Medicine, after Gerald B. Scheiber, a South Jersey businessman who donated $30 million for the project.
Classes at the school, which is being constructed at Rowan’s West Campus, are expected to begin in fall 2025 with about 60 students.
Officials say the veterinarian industry is facing a shortage of trained and licensed vets.
Several colleges in the state offer programs to meet prerequisites for veterinary programs, according to the New Jersey Veterinary Medical Association. But students then have to leave to get their doctorate.
The state Legislature last year approved a $75 million appropriation to help fund construction of the facility at Rowan.
