Des Moines Register
04-26-07
New regents prepare for first meeting
By ERIN JORDAN
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Iowa City, Ia.-- The Iowa Board of Regents -- complete with four new members -will meet Tuesday in Iowa City.
The meeting at the University of Iowa will be the first for new regents Bonnie
Campbell, of Des Moines; Jack Evans, of Cedar Rapids; David Miles, of West
Des Moines; and Craig Lang, of Brooklyn, Ia.
The meeting docket, released today online, looks slightly different from past
meetings because there will be no committee meetings. The board has
suspended the committees until the new regents get up to speed, said the
board's executive director Gary Steinke.
"I'm interested to get the meeting started. I'm excited about it," he said.
Campus security will be among topics discussed by the board in the wake of the
April 16 shootings of 32 people at Virginia Tech University, Steinke said.
"It will come up in the context of Michael telling the board about the studies that
are going on at the universities," he said, referring to Regents President Michael
Gartner. "We'll do a detailed analysis that will be completed in a report by June
30."
The nine-member board will also choose a new president pro-tempore to replace
Teresa Wahlert, of Waukee, whose regents term expired this month.
The regents will consider approving plans for construction projects at the U of I,
Iowa State University and the University of Iowa.
-- The U of I will ask the board for permission to proceed with planning and
architect selection for a $14 million orthopedic and sports medicine center on the
west side of Iowa City. The anticipated construction cost of $5.97 million would
be paid for with the hospital's building usage funds.
-- Iowa State will ask the regents to approve schematic designs and project
description for replacing 94-year-old greenhouses. The $6 million horticulture
greenhouse replacement project would be paid for with $5.9 million in private
money and $100,000 from the Agriculture Experiment Station.
-- The UNI is seeking approval of schematics, description and budget of an $8.46
million parking deck and transit facility. The facility would have space for 490 cars
on three levels and an enclosed transit facility. More than $6.7 million of the
project would come from the federal government and $1.72 million from
institutional resources.