Penn Vet opens new advanced veterinary education center
Bottom line
Penn Vet has formally opened the Gail P. Riepe Center for Advanced Veterinary Education at New Bolton Center, adding an 11,800-square-foot clinical skills facility designed to strengthen hands-on training before students enter live-animal clinical settings. The center is the first dedicated classroom building on Penn Vet’s Kennett Square campus and includes high-fidelity simulation labs, a 3D printing and model fabrication shop, breakout rooms for communication training, and flexible teaching space. The project builds on a leadership gift announced in 2020 from Gail and Jim Riepe, and university trustee materials show the construction budget was approved at $17.035 million. (vet.upenn.edu)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this is another sign that academic centers are investing more heavily in simulation-based, competency-focused training as schools try to better prepare graduates for practice from day one. Penn Vet’s curriculum overhaul, launched with the Class of 2026, shifted more emphasis to integrated, hands-on learning earlier in training, and the new center gives that model dedicated infrastructure, especially for large-animal education. That matters in a workforce environment where readiness, confidence, communication skills, and safe repetition of procedures all affect how quickly new graduates can contribute in clinics and hospitals. (penntoday.upenn.edu)
What to watch: Watch how Penn Vet uses the center not just for student instruction, but also for community programming, farmer outreach, and potential cross-school work in areas like haptics and mixed-reality training. (vet.upenn.edu)
Penn Vet has cut the ribbon on the Gail P. Riepe Center for Advanced Veterinary Education at New Bolton Center, marking the opening of a new clinical skills hub aimed at preparing students for practice with more simulation, more flexible teaching space, and earlier hands-on experience. The 11,800-square-foot facility is a notable addition for the school’s large-animal campus in Kennett Square, where Penn says it is the first dedicated classroom building. (vet.upenn.edu)
The opening is the latest step in a project that has been years in the making. Penn announced a $5 million leadership gift for the planned clinical skills center in July 2020, later describing a $6 million gift tied to the facility from Gail and Jim Riepe. In parallel, Penn Vet has been reshaping its broader educational model: the school’s new curriculum launched with the Class of 2026 and moved preclinical instruction into the first two years, with the final two years opened up for clinical rotations and electives. (giving.upenn.edu)
University materials and prior Penn reporting help fill in the operational picture behind the ribbon-cutting. Trustee documents authorized construction at $17.035 million and described a teaching building focused on large animals, with a clinical skills simulation lab, a 3D printing and model fabrication shop, and flexible meeting space that can function as an active-learning classroom. Penn’s own preview of the building added that the center would include two high-fidelity simulation labs, communication-training breakout rooms, and a multipurpose lecture hall that can support both presentations and small-group, flipped-classroom teaching. (secretary.upenn.edu)
That design aligns with where veterinary education has been heading more broadly. The Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges’ competency-based veterinary education framework emphasizes observable skills and readiness before students move deeper into authentic clinical work. Recent literature reviews have similarly described simulation-based training as a way to give learners safer, more consistent opportunities to build both technical and non-technical skills, while older review work has found simulators can improve competence and confidence before students perform procedures on live patients. (aavmc.org)
Penn leaders have been explicit that the center is meant to change how students learn, not just where they sit. Associate Dean for Education Amy Durham said the facility would better match teaching space to the level of science and clinical care already happening at New Bolton Center. Barbara Dallap Schaer, hospital director and associate dean for clinical education and operations at New Bolton Center, said the goal is to break the complex process of becoming a clinician into smaller steps, and she pointed to future possibilities that include haptics and mixed-reality training through collaboration with Penn Engineering. Dallap Schaer also said the center could expand programming for local farmers, the agricultural community, and young people interested in large-animal medicine. (vet.upenn.edu)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, especially those watching the education-workforce pipeline, the significance is less about one building and more about what it represents. Practices, hospitals, and large-animal employers need graduates who can enter clinical environments with stronger procedural foundations, better communication skills, and more confidence handling real-world cases. Dedicated simulation space gives schools a way to let students repeat tasks, make mistakes safely, and be assessed against competency milestones before those skills are tested in patient care. That can be especially meaningful in large-animal medicine, where case logistics, safety, and animal availability can limit repetition opportunities. (vet.upenn.edu)
The center also fits into a larger investment story at New Bolton Center, a 700-acre campus that serves as Penn Vet’s large-animal hospital and one of the nation’s higher-volume academic large-animal caseloads. Penn has framed the Riepe Center as part of a broader modernization push that includes other infrastructure and curricular changes, suggesting the school sees facilities as central to recruitment, training quality, and long-term competitiveness in veterinary education. (vet.upenn.edu)
What to watch: The next question is how quickly Penn translates the new space into measurable educational outcomes, expanded outreach, and potentially new continuing education or cross-disciplinary programming. If the center delivers on its promise, it could become a model for how veterinary schools tie simulation, competency-based assessment, and workforce preparation together, particularly in large-animal training. (vet.upenn.edu)