The Iowa Board of Regents is slated to review Iowa State’s proposed capital improvement projects and program requests when they meet Thursday.
Iowa State’s revised strategic plan will also be presented.
Capital improvements
The university is seeking to proceed with project planning for the Black Engineering Building. The project includes $14.2 million for a 12,000 square feet renovation. $12.6 million would be funded from private gifts.
“This 12,000 square foot renovation project would focus on experimental and computational research labs, offices and support spaces,” according to Regent documents. “Evaluation of the building’s mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems during the planning phase would inform the renovation.”
Iowa State is requesting the Board’s approval for the proposed project description and budget to renovate three parking lots and make underground utility improvements on campus.
According to the university, the three parking lots have been rated “poor condition” and prioritized due to daily use. The three parking lots are located north of Black Engineering, east of Atanasoff Hall and east of Physics Hall. New sidewalks and parking lot lighting would also be included, bringing the total cost to $2.75 million.
The funding would come from University Parking and Utility Systems Funds, with an expected completion date of Summer 2025.
Iowa State is also requesting Board approval for the schematic design, project description and budget for a proposed 2,400 square feet renovation in the Human Nutritional Science Building.
The renovation would take place across six second-floor teaching labs for the Textile Science Teaching Lab (TSL). The full budget, $2.35 million, would come from private gifts.
“TSL is integral to the degree requirements and accreditation of ISU’s nationally ranked Apparel, Merchandising and Design (AMD) program,” according to Regent documents. “In Fall 2024, 258 undergraduate students and 50 graduate students were enrolled in the AMD program with required TSL coursework. The TSL supports undergraduate honors projects and graduate student research at the master and doctoral levels.”
Program requests
The university is requesting several program changes.
Iowa State would like to add a Bachelor of Science in integrated health sciences (IHS).
“An interdisciplinary endeavor, the IHS program fuses insights from life sciences, behavioral and social sciences, data science and the humanities to provide a holistic view of healthcare and its societal impact,” according to Regent documents.
The university is calling IHS “not merely another health sciences program.” Rather, the university sees the IHS program as “an innovative educational initiative designed to fill unmet needs in Iowa and the nation’s healthcare landscape.
The university is also seeking to suspend admissions for PhD students in rural, agriculture, technological and environmental history. “The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, as part of the Reimagining LAS initiative, has significantly reduced the budget for the Department of History, resulting in the inability to continue funding the RATE program,” according to Regent documents.
There were zero applications for the program in 2023, a decrease from nine in 2019.
Iowa State would also like to terminate a master’s of science in transportation, citing low numbers.
“The interdisciplinary transportation MS major has not produced the number of applicants and enrollments that were expected when the major was evaluated in 1994 and renamed in 1995 from transportation planning to transportation,” according to University documents. “Currently, there are no students admitted to or enrolled in the program.”
Two honorary degree requests will also be evaluated. The university would like to honor Larry Buss, a farmer and retired chief hydraulic engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, for “his extraordinary achievements in engineering and agriculture and his work as a staunch advocate for farmers and rural communities.”
The university is also seeking to award John “JR” Robinson with an honorary doctorate for “extraordinary contributions to the music industry, his philanthropic efforts and his enduring influence on established and emerging music genres.”
Buss and Robinson are both Iowa natives.
Strategic plan
In accordance with the Board and state law, all three of Iowa’s public universities were asked to update their strategic plans.
In accordance with state law, Iowa State has revised several statements in their strategic plan that included words such as “diverse,” equitable” and “inclusion,” including the following:
- OLD: To be the university that cultivates a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment where students, faculty and staff flourish.
- NEW: To be the university that cultivates a welcoming and respectful environment where all students, faculty and staff flourish.
To see the full list of changes, visit Iowa State University’s 2022-2031 Strategic Plan.
The meeting’s open sessions will be live streamed from the Board of Regents website beginning at 9 a.m.
