Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center Celebrating 25 Years

July 10, 2015

Lincoln, Neb. — The Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center is celebrating 25 years of providing advanced education in food animal production management to veterinary students and veterinarians.

To celebrate the anniversary, a reception is scheduled from 1 to 3:30 p.m. July 21 at the educational center, located within the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center near Clay Center. Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources Vice Chancellor Ronnie Green, the educational center's founding director Gary Rupp and current director Dale Grotelueschen are scheduled to speak. Tours of the building will be available. 

The educational center operates through a cooperative agreement between the University of Nebraska, Iowa State University and the animal research center. The program is primarily in the food animal health and production management of beef cattle. Students who participate in courses have the opportunity to work with herds at the animal research center. The educational center also provides continuing education seminars to practicing veterinarians and livestock specialists. 

"In the future, we will continue to work to strengthen and augment our educational offerings and initiate new continuing education options," Grotelueschen said. 

The center contains surgery and clinical treatment pathology/microbiology laboratories, instructional classroom space, cubicles for graduate students and a residence hall. Clinical facilities are designed primarily to accommodate specialized treatment and surgical procedures for beef cattle.

UNL faculty at the educational center include Dee Griffin, professor and feedlot veterinarian; Jeff Ondrak, assistant professor and beef cattle clinical veterinarian; Brad Jones, assistant professor of practice; and Katherine Whitman, assistant professor of practice and beef cattle veterinarian. Faculty members teach and provide scheduled and emergency veterinary services to herds at the animal research center in addition to outreach and clinical research efforts.

For more information about the educational center, visit http://gpvec.unl.edu.