Preparations for CALS AAALAC (Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care) site visit this Fall 2009 are underway.

The Program Description document will be sent off to the AAALAC office at the end of July. Cheryl Deering, Compliance Specialist with the CALS Research Division, has been working with the RARC Senior Program Veterinarians, Dr. Jim Brown (small animals), and Dr. Mike Maroney (large animals), Richard Straub, CALS Director of Animal Facilities and AAALAC Compliance, and Ben Benevenga, Chair of the CALS ACUC, to deliver a comprehensive outline of the CALS animal use program.  Once the document has been reviewed by AAALACs office, Cheryl Deering will be notified the exact dates of the CALS site visit, anticipated to be in late September or early October.

In the meantime there are preparations for the site visit that the CALS PIs, their Laboratory Staff, and Mangers of animal facilities need to consider. Cheryl Deering has been working with the CALS animal facility Managers since early spring, and those preparations are well underway. It is now time to turn our attention to the PIs and their laboratory staff that hold or are listed on animal use protocols.

Cheryl Deering has made arrangements with the RARC trainers to hold Town Hall Meetings for all involved in the use of animals within CALS. These meetings will answer questions such as who is AAALAC, how important it is to CALS to continue our accreditation, as well as what to expect during our site visit.

Please save a date for yourself and your staff to attend one of the following Town Hall Meetings that will be packed with 60 minutes of helpful information as well as time for Questions and Answers.

• August 26, 2009 11:30 – 1 PM Location: Ebling Syposium Center (room 1220), Microbial Sciences.
• August 27, 2009 11:30 – 1 PM Location: To be Determined.
• September 10, 2009 11:30 – 1 PM Location: Ebling Symposium Center, Microbial Sciences.
• September 17, 2009 Noon – 1:30 PM Location: Ebling Symposium Center, Microbial Sciences.

Any questions before the scheduled Town Hall meetings can be directed to Richard Straub, at (608) 262-3311 or rjstraub@wisc.edu, or Cheryl Deering, at (608) 262-2536 or cdeering@cals.wisc.edu.