PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 25, No. 10, Nov. 17, 2005

White outlines priorities for next five years

By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor
217-244-1072; slforres@uiuc.edu

UI President B. Joseph White says his top priorities for the next five years are strengthening academic programs, making significant progress in addressing the backlog of deferred maintenance projects and ensuring affordability and access for all students, even though the UI will need to raise tuition to reach the first two objectives.

White, who spoke at the Nov. 11 meeting of the UI Board of Trustees in Springfield, presented a five-year economic needs plan and said that his major focus will be enhancing the quality of education, facilities, and teaching and research.

“I believe we can achieve substantial new sources of revenue, but it takes a period of investment to do it,” said White, who added that between 2012 and 2015 he hopes to see an increase in grants and contracts funding, state support and new revenue streams.

White told trustees that he had prepared the first draft of a strategic plan for the university and planned to meet with 100 senior administrators about it on Nov. 15.

Joseph Muscarella, vice chancellor for administrative services at UIC, told trustees that the backlog of Priority 1, 2 and 3 deferred maintenance projects on state-supported buildings has escalated from $617 million to more than $900 million since the 2002 facilities condition audit, and that dilapidated building “envelopes” – such as roofs, exterior masonry and walls – identified in the audit have caused more than $100 million in water damage. Millions of dollars of updates also are needed to bring buildings into compliance with fire safety codes and with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Muscarella recommended that the university jump-start the deferred maintenance program by allocating $100 million to address the most critical repairs at the three campuses – and that the university arrange funding rather than wait for state support. The university also should develop a long-range deferred maintenance plan, increase allocations to the physical plants, fund operations and maintenance at rates that prevent further decline, and “strongly consider demolishing buildings that are beyond their lives and can’t be remodeled economically,” Muscarella said.

The three student trustees and Sarah Mangelsdorf, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Urbana, told the board how deteriorating, outdated facilities and large student-faculty ratios are impeding educational quality.

Trustee Kenneth Schmidt said: “It is our absolute obligation to support proper funding for this institution. I know how politically unpopular it is. As chairman of the academic committee, I implore you to look at what we need to do, no matter how unpopular it is.”

However, Trustee Niranjan Shah said that he wanted a comprehensive analysis and action plan, rather than photos of broken elevators and personal anecdotes.

“To me, the whole thing doesn’t make any sense. Why are we building new buildings if we don’t have the money to take care of the buildings we have?” Shah said. White responded that staff members would prepare a “granular analysis” and action plan as well as an analysis of the effect on academic programs. White also recommended that the university adopt a plan for funding repairs to state-owned buildings similar to its auxiliary facilities program, which set aside one half of 1 percent of facilities’ replacement values for maintenance.

White presented a plan for capital project management that delegated responsibility for selection of professional services providers and contract negotiations to university administration rather than campus leaders, who will manage professional services after contracting and project budgets.

Martin Lipsky, regional dean of the College of Medicine at Rockford, reported on plans to build a $23 million, 58,000-square-foot addition to the existing College of Medicine building intended to house the National Center for Rural Health Professions Education. The project has been stalled because the state funding did not come through, which also deterred some potential donors, according to UIC Chancellor Sylvia Manning. The only program of its type in the country, the center has the potential to be an economic driver for the community and the state of Illinois and is establishing global outreach. Larry Morrissey, mayor of the city of Rockford, urged trustees to move forward with the project and said he would assist with fundraising. White said staff members would develop a project plan to be presented at the board’s January meeting.

Heidi Hurd, dean of the College of Law at Urbana, reported that the college has made great strides during the past two years, but that progress is jeopardized by salary inequity and an inadequate, outdated building. Shah told Hurd to expedite completion of a feasibility study for constructing a new building and to take the lead in raising funds.

Urbana Chancellor Richard Herman and Oliver J. Clark, police chief and executive director of the Division of Public Safety, reported on traffic- and pedestrian-safety initiatives being undertaken since a freshman was struck and killed by a city bus in September.

Trustees urged White, Herman and Urbana student trustee Nicholas Klitzing to pressure the Mass Transit District and the cities to implement changes that will improve traffic-pedestrian safety on campus streets.

Other business
Trustees approved for the Urbana campus:

• Transfer of the industrial engineering program from the department of mechanical and industrial engineering to the department of general engineering and redesignation of the departments as the department of industrial and enterprise systems engineering and the department of mechanical engineering.
  
• Contracting with various architectural/engineering firms to: begin design work on several projects, including an $11 million conference center at the corner of St. Mary’s Road and First Street in Champaign; a Student Dining and Residential Programs Building and the first wing of a new residence hall that are the $75.7 million first phase of a plan to modernize the Champaign residence halls; the $7.6 million first phase of the Roger Adams Laboratory modernization project; and a $5.3 million renovation plan for Hartwig Lab, located in Roger Adams Lab, to accommodate two new faculty members beginning in fall 2006. A $5.4 million project to upgrade Atkins Tennis Center and Eichelberger Field also was approved.
  

At Chicago:

• The trustees awarded $67.2 million in construction contracts related to the South Campus Mixed Use Development Project, with construction beginning in December and completion expected during summer 2007.
  
• Joseph Flaherty, dean of the UIC College of Medicine, reported that UIC is consulting with the Centers for Disease Control and other agencies about the avian flu; Bellur Prabhakar, head of the department of microbiology and immunology, is doing research related to vaccine development.

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