State approves $43 million for ag building
The College of Agriculture is one step closer to a new home after the state Legislature approved $43 million March 4 for a new agricultural building to be built on the Logan campus.
To meet the needs of the College of Agriculture, the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station and students for the next 30 years or more, a new Agricultural Sciences Teaching and Research Building is halfway to securing the funds needed for construction, said Noelle Cockett, dean of the College of Agriculture. The bill has yet to be approved by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. but has virtually no chance of being vetoed, said Michael Kennedy, USU’s special assistant to the president for federal and state relations. However, USU is still seeking $60 million from the next federal appropriations cycle and will not have the $43 million from the state until USU receives the federal funding.
“The state money is contingent on the federal money,” Kennedy said. “If USU gets the whole $60 million, the state will release the $43 million. If USU gets a third of the $60 million, the state will also release a third.” USU won’t hear about the federal dollars until July at the very earliest, Kennedy said. However, he said the school remains optimistic.
“We are extremely grateful,” Kennedy said. “The governor didn’t include any higher ed buildings in his budget. The funds were scant for buildings.”
Sen. Bob Bennett is very supportive and helped the university secure a $5.5 million federal earmark for the building’s planning and design, Kennedy said. The state also matched $2.5 million for that same purpose, Kennedy said. “The federal government kicked the ball back into the state court saying, ‘Here’s this $5.5 million earmark,'” Kennedy said. “But in a very, very big way, the state knocked the ball back into the federal government’s court.”
Also in USU’s favor in its search for federal money is the school’s rich land-grant heritage and its connection with the Agriculture Research Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said Julie Ung, College of Agriculture ambassador. The new building would house several ARS laboratories that are scattered across USU’s campus, including the Bee Lab and Forage andRange Research Lab, Kennedy said. “It would also have room for USU agriculture faculty members and classrooms with improved classrooms and better facilities,” Kennedy said. Kennedy said the ARS programs justified spending the federal dollars for this building and will also provide an opportunity for students and faculty to interact easier with federal researchers. “This is putting us on the cutting edge,” Kennedy said. Cockett said USU had listed the agriculture building as its top funding priority at this year’s Legislature, and this new ag building will highlight the continuing commitment of USU to the agricultural industry and land-grant mission.
Although much of this structure will be built through federal and state entities, the College of Agriculture will be seeking to raise an additional $15 million by private means, Cockett said.
The current home of the College of Agriculture, the Peterson Agricultural Sciences building, was built in 1955 and is one of the oldest buildings on campus, Ung said.
“A new ag building is just what USU needs. Not only will it bring more students to this land-grant institution, but it will put agriculture back into the heart of this campus and its students,” Ung said.
If the rest of the funding is approved for a new ag building, construction will begin as soon as possible and hopefully be completed by 2012, Kennedy said. The new building will be built on the east side of the Quad, where the Merrill Library once stood. The current Peterson Agricultural Sciences building will be torn down.
-m.l.r@aggiemail.usu.edu