An Iowa State nine-year strategic plan, 30-year strategic facilities plan and a design proposal for a new academic building on the west side of campus are on the agenda when the state Board of Regents meets next week in Iowa City. The agenda is on the board's website, and all public portions of the meeting will be livestreamed there, too.
The board will meet Tuesday morning, May 31, through midday Thursday, June 2, but the first day and a half will be occupied with annual evaluations for regent institution heads and the board's executive director, Mark Braun.
Strategic plan
Iowa State's next strategic plan outlines an annual priority-reviewing and planning process for the next nine years (FY23-31). It's driven by five aspirational "to be" statements and shaped by the university's four areas of excellence as a public land-grant: innovative solutions, knowledge and discovery, education experience and community engagement. As proposed, a director of strategic planning and initiatives, who reports to President Wendy Wintersteen, would oversee the annual process that involves the campus community and external stakeholders to review and assess priorities and propose projects -- one to multiple years -- that move Iowa State toward its "to be" statements. The plan includes success metrics for each statement.
Strategic facilities plan
About three years in the making, Iowa State's strategic facilities plan succeeds a 1991 campus master plan. It provides high-level, modern guidelines for investing in and replacing facilities over 30 years that look at cost and erasing deferred maintenance but also at sustainability factors. It also identifies specific buildings that are key pieces of the plan; some for renovation, some for demolition and some to be used up as swing buildings -- temporary homes for employees whose buildings are in the first two categories.
The strategic facilities plan preserves the central campus green space and assumes no major changes to student enrollment, the campus housing footprint or financial support (including research support). It focuses on the main campus' academic and research facilities, and excludes nearby agricultural properties.
Following regents approval, websites will be created for the strategic plan and the strategic facilities plan.
Therkildsen building plans
Iowa State will present a project description, building design and budget for the proposed $54 million Therkildsen Industrial Engineering Building. If approved, this is the final green light required from the regents. The proposed four-story (42,600 net square feet) facility situated northwest of Beyer Hall will provide teaching and research labs, classrooms and offices for the department of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering. The department currently shares Black Engineering with the mechanical engineering department. A 2014 College of Engineering space study identified critical space needs for both departments. The cost of the project will be covered by a $42 million gift from alumni C.G. "Turk" and Joyce McEwen Therkildsen and university funds.
Improvements to Iowa State Center lots
Iowa State will seek board permission to begin planning for an estimated $25 million in underground infrastructure and paving improvements to parking lots between Hilton Coliseum and Jack Trice Stadium. This first phase would place new water, power, gas, phone, storm and sanitary lines, to support future development, under about 80% of the lot area south of Center Drive. The project also would raise the lots above the 100-year flood plain. Six lots near Center Drive -- A1, A2, B3, B4, C3 and C4 -- are designated for a future phase. A combination of university and athletics department funds would be used for this project.
Other business
In other business, the board is scheduled to:
- Direct the universities to, when they're complete, submit FY23 salary policies to Braun for final approval.
- Review Iowa State's request for a new B.S. program in healthcare management in the department of management and entrepreneurship.
- Receive an update on campus participation rates in the board's required online free speech training during spring semester.
- Elect a board president and president pro tem for two-year terms, through April 2024.
