Today (Oct. 3) Colorado State University is scheduled to break ground on the long-awaited new wing to the James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital at 300 W. Drake Road in Fort Collins.

Set for 10 a.m. on the southwest side of the hospital, actual groundbreaking responsibilities will be handled by Murphy, a four-year-old Great Dane and cancer survivor, and Truman, a three-year-old Jack Russell Terrier.

The new 35,000 square-foot, two-story addition will house the Robert H. and Mary G. Flint Animal Cancer Center, the Argus Institute for Families and Veterinary Medicine and the Charles R. Shipley, Jr. and Lucia H. Shipley Center for Complementary Medicine and Natural Healing. Construction is targeted for completion in October 2002 and occupancy for November 2002.

For the past three years, the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences has been engaged in a private and public campaign to raise $11 million for the much-needed new facility. The campaign enlisted the efforts of well-known personalities such as Gen. Norman H. Schwarzkopf, Hollywood’s Bart the Bear, Gov. Bill Owens and New York artist William Wegman, all of whom volunteered their time or talents for public service ads