The University's capital improvement plan will be shared at this week's ABOR meeting
A reconfiguration of the College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture's space is among the projects included in the capital improvement plan that will be shared with the Arizona Board of Regents.
The University of Arizona will seek approval for its capital improvement plan at this week's Arizona Board of Regents meeting.
The meeting, originally scheduled to take place at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, will be held virtually to adhere to recommended health and safety precautions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It is ABOR's fourth virtual meeting since classes moved online in mid-March.
Friday's session will begin with each of the state's public universities updating the regents with their fall semester operations, with discussion to follow.
Later in the afternoon, University of Arizona leaders will present the capital improvement plan for fiscal years 2022-2024, along with a vision for how the plan strategically aligns with the University's institutional priorities.
The priorities of the capital improvement plan remain focused on "shaping the future, improving productivity, inspiring learning and urging exploration," according to board materials. The plan seeks to create a campus that "connects people, places and community" while prioritizing "safe, dynamic and inclusive spaces that inspire living, learning, growing and dreaming."
"This plan summarizes our past year's capital program activity, and directly supports our strategic goals of best preparing students with skills and mindsets to lead in the Fourth Industrial Revolution; tackling society's biggest challenges; advancing our land-grant mission; setting the standard for a global university in the digital age; and living our values and innovative culture to enable a high-performing institution," University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins said in a letter to the board.
The plan addresses the realities of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with no proposed projects in the first year, while the University focuses on completing existing high-priority projects and mitigating the significant safety and financial impacts of the pandemic.
The final two years of the plan call for:
- Additional graduate student housing on campus.
- A central chilled water plant and additional collaborative spaces near the downtown Phoenix campus.
- A reconfiguration of the College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture's space.
- A multidisciplinary facility to house Arizona Public Media and three related programs in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (the Information School, the Department of Communication and the School of Journalism).
- Renovations and expansion of Centennial Hall, along with additional improvements and developments that help establish the University as an arts destination.
- Core campus infrastructure improvements.
- A hands-on makerspace for the engineering senior design capstone course.
- Improvements to Arizona Stadium.
- Laboratory renovations.
Other items on the agenda (PDF):
The University will ask the board for authorization on a lease for the Veterans Administration to occupy 17,024 square feet on the seventh floor of the Biosciences Partnership Building on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus. The presence of the VA will "facilitate and lead to greater collaboration" among the VA and the three state universities, according to board materials.
The meeting will be livestreamed at https://www.youtube.com/user/abornews.