What: University of Minnesota Board of Regents meeting
When: Thursday and Friday, September 10 and 11, 2015
Where: Sixth Floor, McNamara Alumni Center, 200 Oak St. S.E., Minneapolis
At its Friday, September 11 meeting, the University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents will review the President’s recommended six-year capital improvement plan. Board of Regents policy Board Operations and Agenda Guidelines directs the administration to prepare a six-year capital plan annually that sets priorities and direction for ongoing academic and capital planning efforts. The six year plan informs the state capital request, which the Board will also review.
The proposed 2016 request includes investments across the University system, with the highest priority given to Higher Education Asset Preservation and Replacement (HEAPR) funds to protect and maintain the investments already made in existing facilities. The proposed 2016 request is $235 million, with $100 million dedicated to HEAPR funds. The U of M maintains more than 29 million square feet in labs, clinics, classrooms, and public spaces throughout the state. Nearly 35 percent of U of M buildings are over 50 years old and 26 percent of total space is rated “poor” or “critical” in this year’s facility condition assessment. More than 80,000 faculty, staff, students, and visitors use Twin Cities campus buildings daily.
Bell Museum
The Board of Regents will review and act on the schematic design and project budget of $64.225 million for the new Bell Museum, an increase of $6,725,000 over the original budget of $57.5 million. Additional funds represent a combination of private giving and restructuring of debt to maximize the State’s investment for this project.
The Bell Museum project is envisioned as a state-of-the-art natural history museum with permanent and traveling exhibit galleries, a planetarium (digital domed theater), a touch and see room, classrooms, and retail/food service. Flexible shell, administrative and museum support spaces, site improvements such as parking, pollinator gardens, water reuse ponds and the potential for additional enhanced educational amenities are also a part of this 89,860 gross square foot project.
Other agenda items include:
- Introduce Regents Professors – The Board of Regents recently named R. Lawrence Edwards, Vipin Kumar and Michael Osterholm as Regents Professors. They will be formally recognized during the Board meeting. The Regents Professor designation is the highest level of recognition given to faculty by the University.
- Introduce the new Dean of the College of Biological Sciences – Valery Forbes, the new College of Biological Sciences Dean, will be welcomed by the Board of Regents.
- Human research protection work plan update – Brian Herman, Vice President for Research, will discuss progress made on implementing the University's work plan to strengthen its human research protections. In June 2015, the board requested periodic updates to the Audit Committee.
- Twin Cities athletic facilities planning – Interim Athletic Director Beth Goetz will provide a short update on the Twin Cities campus athletic facilities.
- Budget work session – The Board of Regents hold a 2-hour work session to discuss fiscal year 2017 budget assumptions with CFO Richard Pfutzenreuter, Associate Vice President of Budget and Finance Julie Tonneson and President Eric Kaler, to initiate the University budgeting process.
- UMD residence dining renovation – The Board will review and act on schematic designs for the University of Minnesota- Duluth residence hall dining renovations.
- Affirmative consent – The Board will act to ratify changes to the administrative policy Sexual Assault, Stalking and Relationship Violence.
- University Progress Card – President Kaler will present for Board review the University Progress Card, a new university-specific benchmarking and goal-setting tool for driving progress at the U of M.
Committee meetings will begin 8 a.m. Thursday. The full Board will meet at 9 a.m. Friday. More information, including meeting times and locations, can be found on the Regents website.
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- Campus Affairs