ADHE Cuts UA Request
by January 25, 1999 12:00 am 84 views
The Arkansas Department of Higher Education will recommend that the 82nd Arkansas General Assembly fund $19.8 million for projects on the University of Arkansas’ Fayetteville campus between July 1, 1999, and June 30, 2001. That’s only 26 percent of the $76.2 million requested by the campus.
The Legislature had a total of $545.9 million in requests from the state-supported institutions of higher education but only $200 million available in the budget. The $200 million figure is 36 percent of the total amount requested.
The only UA line items that the ADHE plans to recommend for full funding are $9.8 million for instruction/research equipment and $4.1 million for completion of a biology lab building – items No. 1 and 3, respectively, in the UA’s wish list priority.
“You never get what you ask for,” says Don Pederson, UA vice chancellor for finance and administration. “We were somewhat pleased with this recommendation. Our top two items were not buildings. That’s a change in priority for us.”
The UA asked for $8.1 million for technology infrastructure improvements, but the ADHE recommends the school receive only $5 million for that item, which was No. 2 in the wish list.
Although the items recommended for funding won’t result in visible changes like new buildings, the changes will elevate the UA’s standing as a research institution, Pederson says.
Of the $9.8 million for instruction/research equipment, $3.2 million will go to assist molecular biology, computer and information science and technology, advanced manufacturing technology, advanced and novel materials and telecommunications. The other $6.6 million will be spent to improve labs and equipment so the UA can recruit prominent research scientists, says Pederson.
The UA’s Division of Agriculture, which is based on the Fayetteville campus but operates separately from the university as a state-funded entity, fared much better with its requests.
The Division of Agriculture requested $11.1 million from the Legislature, and the ADHE passed on $6.4 million of that for approval. Of that amount, $750,000 would go for construction of a swine research and teaching facility, $3 million (of $4.2 million requested) for a multipurpose agriculture building and $2.5 million for a plant environmental facility.