Iowa State hopes to purchase land north of Airport Road for an expansion of the Research Park. 

The community has the chance to comment on this and any other March 11 Board of Regents agenda item from 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday in the Oak Room of the Memorial Union. 

The $1.4 million five-acre portion of land, which was previously a John Deere implement dealership, meets a series of university needs, which includes the support and growth of the ISU Research Park, according to the regent agenda item.

The board approved an expanded lease to Harrisvaccines Inc., which now occupies half of the University Central Stores facility. The university, according to the agenda item, wants to cooperate in the firm’s growth. 

Also up for requested board approval is a new program in Bachelor of Science Program in Early Childcare Education and Programming in the College of Human Sciences.

Those in the program will train to work as teachers, providers or administrators in childcare programs and other related programs, but will not receive licensure to work in public schools.

The proposed program, according to the docket item, will be meant for people who may move around frequently, such as military families and need the flexibility of an online program.

The program will be offered entirely online, as part of the Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance, is designed to give the content of a student’s final two years of their education program. 

The need for the program comes from a U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Defense request to develop more options for military personnel and their families and help the Department of Defense meet staffing needs on or near military instillations. 

Iowa State is also requesting parking fee increases ranging from an increase of $3 to $12, depending on the location of the parking spot. Parking at the stadium is requested to increase from $97 to $103 and residence hall parking rates to increase from $137 to $143 for the academic year. 

A 2014 campus security and safety report has been released and will be presented to the board. The report shares university safety staffing information, crime statistics and details about each university’s security system.

The total number of offenses and incidents at Iowa State has decreased from 2214 in 2013 to 2042 in 2014. The total number of charges has decreased from 1581 to 1275 and the number of arrests has decreased from 1274 to 1010. 

The full board agenda can be found at the regents website: regents.iowa.gov.