The Washington State University Board of Regents have approved moving forward with the design phase for two new research and laboratory facilities planned for the Pullman campus.
Approval of the design phase for the Global Animal Health and Plant Sciences buildings allows architects and engineers to prepare the detailed plans required for their construction. Regents gave their approval during their regularly scheduled meeting Friday, Nov. 17. Both facilities are awaiting final funding approval from the Washington State Legislature.
The Global Animal Health Facility Phase 2 will house the Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health disease detection and surveillance program. This disease detection and surveillance program is at the front line of the nation’s defense against foreign diseases, zoonotic diseases and food-borne illness, and is known regionally and nationally for its work to combat pandemic flu, avian influenza, West Nile Virus, Mad Cow Disease and Foot and Mouth Disease.
The facility also will house research and development laboratories and serve as a teaching laboratory for educating veterinary (DVM) students, post-DVM and other health professionals, graduate and undergraduate students. This facility will be physically connected to the Phase I Global Animal Health building that houses the Allen School global animal health research programs.
The Plant Sciences Building, also planned for the Pullman campus, will become an integral part of a series of interconnected facilities that encourage interdisciplinary collaboration among the institution’s leading scientists. The complex will be used by students and faculty from the College of Agriculture, Human and Natural Resource Science, the College of Veterinary Medicine and the College of Arts and Sciences. Researchers will use the new facility to study plant biochemistry, plant pathology, horticulture and crops and soils sciences.
Also at the Nov. 17 meeting, the Board of Regents approved:
- the renaming the College of Pharmacy to the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences,
- the statement of purpose and permanence for the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, and
- the student technology fee allocation for the Vancouver campus.