The Board of Regents approved supplemental capital budget requests to the state Office of Financial Management on Oct. 24 that included $20 million for construction of the WSU Spokane Academic Center.
The center would supply needed classroom space for the Spokane campus; it would also provide a library, classrooms and other support spaces for the proposed Nursing Building on the Spokane Riverpoint Campus. University officials hope to have the academic center building completed in 2006.
Two other parts of the supplemental capital budget request approved by the regents are $3.4 million for a wastewater reclamation project on the Pullman campus and $4 million for WSUNet, which would help fund high-tech infrastructure improvements.
In other action, the regents approved the sale of Hilltop Stables, which includes 54 acres of land, a farmhouse, stables and several outbuildings. The land, located off Valley Road in Pullman, will be sold for $2 million. The regents also approved a $660,000 project to design and install a fire alarm and fire suppression system for Clark Hall on the Pullman campus.
The regents also approved renaming the Livestock Pavilion as the M.E. and Audrey H. Ensminger Agricultural Pavilion. The Ensmingers are known worldwide for their educational programs and publications on agricultural practices and nutrition. M.E. Ensminger was the chair of the WSU animal science department from 1941 to 1962.
