The state Board of Regents on Monday approved a $1.46 million child care facility to be built near Iowa State’s Veterinary Medicine building.

At the meeting in Cedar Falls, representatives from Baldwin White Architects, the Des Moines firm that will build the new facility, presented the plans for the building.

“For students with children, [the center] is of extreme importance,” said Dan Sloan, architect for Baldwin White.

The 8000 square-foot building will accommodate up to 84 children ranging from infants to school-aged children. The architects will use a residential-style floor plan and construction features to create a homey atmosphere.

“As soon as they walk in, the building should feel like a home to these children,” Sloan said.

The building will have four child-care centers: one for infants, one for toddlers, one for preschoolers and one for school-aged children. Plans for the facility include separate outdoor play spaces and an outdoor theater.

“You can go outside from every program space,” Sloan said. Separate play spaces allow for more program spontaneity and will facilitate different age groups being able to participate in different levels of outdoor play, Sloan said.

There was some discussion among the Regents that the facility would be too far south for all ISU students to use. However, Sloan said the building will be particularly convenient for commuters, who often park at the Iowa State Center.

When Regents president Marvin Pomerantz said he did not feel it was necessary for the Board to question the architectural judgment of the architects, Tyrrell said he did not feel comfortable approving the proposal without asking questions.

“It’s clear there is some division on the Board,” said John Anderson, associate director of university relations. This division may show itself again May 1, when the Board will vote on a new president, Anderson said.

Anderson would not say who he thought would run for the position.

“We all have our ideas about who wants it, who has support from different areas,” Anderson said.

“It will be a contested election. You may want to come,” said Regent Thomas Dorr about the May 1 election.

In other news: In light of ISU’s decision not to allocate funds to the soon-to-be disaccredited social work program, the Board of Regents approved ISU’s request that the program go through normal faculty channels before its termination, said LAS Dean Elizabeth Hoffman.

By July 6, the social work department will report to the Board on the counseling of each social work major. “The next phase is to help each student toward graduation and to help any students who wish to transfer [to an accredited program],” Hoffman said.