PULLMAN – Washington State University will be asking the legislature for funding to move forward with creation of a School for Global Animal Health.
Friday, in a special meeting of the Board of Regents held by teleconference, the regents approved a supplemental budget request that includes money to create the school, which would be part of the College of Veterinary Medicine. The money, part of a $3.85 million funding request for animal health and agriculture issues, would fund the hiring of four senior-level faculty with established research programs in the field.
In the supplemental capital budget request, the university will be asking for $7.4 million in design funding for a veterinary medical research building, part of the complex of research buildings being built in the area across Stadium Way from Martin Stadium on the Pullman campus.
The building, whose construction costs could be funded in the 2009-2011 biennial budget, would allow some scientists now located in Wegner, McCoy and Bustad halls who are engaged in interdisciplinary research to come together in one facility.
Other items in the university’s supplemental budget request include $3 million for campus safety initiatives, including additional police officers, training and equipment, and increased emergency notification capabilities; $6 million for recruitment and retention of faculty and for salary increases for administrative professional employees; $1.8 million for technical corrections for issues raised by the 2007-2009 biennial budget; $512,000 to fund an additional 40 student spots at WSU Tri-Cities; $1 million for a feasibility study on replacing the university’s aging core computer systems; and $1.6 million to restore a subsidy for out-of-state graduate students.
The supplemental request, which was approved by the regents unanimously, will now go to the governor, who presents her budget proposal to the legislature in December. The legislature begins deliberation in January.
