VMRCVM concludes 25th anniversary celebration with statue dedication Friday

The Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM) will conclude it’s year-long 25th Anniversary Celebration with the dedication of a life-sized bronze sculpture celebrating the human/animal bond on Friday, Sept. 9 on the Virginia Tech campus.

Sculpted by Kentucky artist Gwen Reardon from an original concept by VMRCVM biomedical media artist Terry Lawrence, the sculpture features a horse, a dog and a veterinary student. It will be installed behind a Hokie-stone wall that has been constructed at the entrance to the college’s Blacksburg campus.

“This will be a wonderful conclusion to what has been a spectacular year-long celebration for our college,” said Gerhardt Schurig, dean of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. “This statue will stand in permanent tribute to the human/animal bond, to our college and all it has achieved, and the veterinary profession.”

Reardon, who created the famous equine statuary at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, has been working on the sculpture project for three years. Major funding for the project has been provided through a donation made by Jane Talbot, wife of the late founding dean Richard B. Talbot, and her family. The sculpture will be the first major piece of sculpture installed on the Virginia Tech campus.

College and university officials participating in the ceremony will be joined by distinguished guest speaker Henry Childers, president of the 72,000 member American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). During a luncheon following the ceremony, a history book chronicling the founding and development of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine will be introduced. Entitled “Breaking New Ground: A History of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine,” the book has been co-authored by former college Dean Peter Eyre and founding faculty member Kent C. Roberts.

The dedication ceremony will coincide with the annual meeting of the college’s Alumni Society and the annual fall meeting of the Virginia and Maryland Veterinary Medical Associations, which typically are hosted by the college.

The ceremony caps a year-long sequence of special events and communication programs that has been structured around the theme “Breaking New Ground in Veterinary Medicine.”