Jonesboro, AR – Jonesboro Right Now – Arkansas State University leadership and students gathered Thursday afternoon to celebrate the dedication of its College of Veterinary Medicine’s (CVM) equine barn.
Dubbed the “Dash Goff Equine Center – Nodouble Barn” it is named after Dash Goff, who gifted $1 million to the CVM, which officially opened and started classes in August.
Goff is a thoroughbred horse owner and breeder, and his father, Gene Goff, owned and bred the racehorse Nodouble. Nodouble was bred in Arkansas and nicknamed the “Arkansas Traveler” and won numerous races during his career, including the 1968 Arkansas Derby.
During the ceremony, Goff said he heard about the CVM project and learned about the planned equine and bovine barns, which students will use to practice large animal medicine.
“I said, ‘Well, if a guy wanted to make a nice contribution, what else is there?’ And we talked around a while said, ‘There’s gonna be two barns,’ and I said, ‘Two barns? Why two barns?’ One’s for a cow, one’s for a horse. I said, ‘What about the horse barn?’ ‘It’s a million dollars,'” Goff said in the ceremony. “I said, ‘I’ll build it!'”
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The barn has eight equine stocks, three stalls, and an equipment storage room. In it, students will practice equine restraint, procedural skills, examination, as well as learn skills such as hoof care and ultrasound through hands on laboratories.
The barn sits near the University Farm and Agricultural Teaching and Research Center off Aggie Road.
“Hands on training is so important to make sure [students are] practice ready, and the curriculum is one piece of that,” said CVM dean Dr. Heidi Banse, who prior to coming to A-State, worked as an equine internal medicine specialist. “But the curriculum is only one piece. Without the facility, you can’t make that happen.”
In the barn, and among the CVM as a whole, students will learn in a competency-based, hands-on curriculum, with three years spent on campus and one year of clinical training in veterinary practices across Arkansas and beyond.
During the dedication, Wayne Smith, general manager of Oaklawn Hot Springs, presented the CVM with two checks totaling $10,000.
“The ability for us to work with and train and help be a part of a vet school here at Arkansas State is immense,” Smith said.
Recently named A-State Chancellor Dr. Calvin White said that both the CVM and the barn helps the university prepare students for careers in veterinary medicine.
“The Dash Goff Equine Center is a wonderful example of what can happen with an academic mission and a real need come together with a partner who believes in both,” White said. “As A-State continues to develop programs that meet Arkansas’s needs, we’ll continue to build new relationships with people like Dash, to see the possibilities of what we can accomplish together.”
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