Biosciences proposal goes to regents next week
Author: Anne Krapfl
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Author: Anne Krapfl
Iowa State leaders hope to receive state Board of Regents approval for two biosciences projects -- an addition to Bessey Hall and a new teaching/research building – when the board meets June 4 in Ames. The meeting, scheduled for 230 Scheman Building, begins with committee meetings from 9 a.m. to noon. The full board convenes at 1 p.m., and its agenda is online. There will be live audio streaming of public portions of the meeting.
A proposed four-story addition to the east side of Bessey Hall would cost $28 million and be funded by state appropriations. It would house undergraduate teaching labs and research labs for two departments (ecology, evolution and organismal biology, and genetics, development and cell biology), two general university classrooms and support space. The fourth floor would remain undeveloped for now. The proposal includes modernizing about 8,000 square feet of space in Bessey.
The proposed Advanced Teaching and Research Building, a five-story building with roof greenhouse, would be located on the northwest corner of the Stange Road-Pammel Drive intersection. The cost, $52 million, would be covered by state appropriations ($22 million), university funds ($20 million) and private gifts ($10 million). It would house the plant pathology and microbiology department and portions of two others: the entomology department and the genetics, development and cell biology department. It would include space for research and related support, faculty and graduate student offices, teaching labs, formal and informal collaboration, department administration, a plant diagnostic clinic and a general university lecture hall. The fifth floor would be undeveloped for now. The proposal includes $500,000 to demolish Industrial Education II, built in 1926, which currently stands on the site.
The board will be asked to approve a proposal to distribute $2.5 million among regent employees' TIAA-CREF accounts from a 20-state settlement with Standard and Poor's Rating Services. The lawsuit focused on misleading investment advice provided by S&P leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. The state of Iowa's share of the $1.375 billion settlement is $21.5 million. Of that, $10 million will be added to the state's IPERS fund and $2.5 million will be directed to individual TIAA-CREF accounts.
Associate vice president for business and finance Pam Cain said the distribution works out to $42.87 for each of the 58,317 eligible participants. The regent schools agreed to distribute by a simple head count rather than try to determine proportional amounts based on the size or movement of individual accounts. Cain said eligibility was granted to TIAA-CREF participant employees who:
If the board approves the distribution proposal, Cain said the Iowa attorney general would send a check directly to TIAA-CREF for distribution to employee accounts. The universities will not receive the money.
Board members will hear several Iowa State presentations on Thursday. Professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology Lynn Clark and senior Laura Ekl will highlight the interdepartmental undergraduate program in biological/premedical illustration, a shared program of the colleges of Design and Liberal Arts and Sciences. This presentation will begin at approximately 9 a.m. to the board's Education and Student Affairs Committee.
Three presentations are scheduled before the full board on Thursday afternoon.
In closed sessions Thursday afternoon and continuing Friday morning, the board will complete its annual performance evaluations of the three university presidents, the superintendent of the Iowa School for the Deaf, Council Bluffs; and the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School, Vinton; and board executive director Robert Donley.
To expedite its Thursday meeting, the board's Education and Student Affairs Committee also will meet on Wednesday (4-6 p.m., 275 Scheman) to review four ISU accreditation reports:
In other Iowa State-related business: