Here is an article in today's local paper regarding an award we received yesterday to retrofit our campus.

The Prez

   Public and private universities and colleges in Arkansas will get $42.5 million in federal stimulus funds to use for renovation, expansion and energy upgrades of campus facilities, Gov. Mike Beebe announced Monday.
   The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Arkansas State University at Jonesboro will each get $4 million of that amount. The University of Central Arkansas at Conway is getting $3 million.
   In addition to the money for higher education institutions, the governor said some state agencies, service providers and specialty schools will receive $26.6 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.
   Altogether, it’s roughly $70 million in recovery funds this round. The governor’s office said Beebe still has $6.3 million left to allocate.
   In all, Arkansas’ estimated share of recovery funds for a wide range of agencies and services is $2.9 billion, according to the Web site recovery.arkansas.gov.
   Campus representatives welcomed news of the federal dollars Monday, saying crumbling or decrepit facilities will get a boost in a time of tight budgets.
   “It will be extraordinarily helpful,” said UALR Chancellor Joel E. Anderson. “Money to address critical maintenance needs is the hardest kind of money to get.”
   UA-Fayetteville will use its stimulus funds to shave a little off the price tag for its multimillion-dollar campus-maintenance proposal, said Don Pederson, vice chancellor for finance and administration.
   In January, the campus unveiled the most ambitious building-upkeep proposal in school history to the UA board of trustees. Then estimated at $218 million, it was described as a backlog of repairs and renovations that has been postponed for decades. The 15-year plan targets 16 buildings initially.
   The money is one-time funding, and there are certain restrictions, Pederson said. For example, athletic facilities or new construction are not allowed.
   UA-Fayetteville will use some recovery money for a dozen elevator upgrades in nine campus buildings: Mullins Library, the health, physical education and recreation building, the Sam M. Walton College of Business building, Kimpel Hall, the science building, the plant science building, Memorial Hall, the administration building and the off-campus Continuing Education building that the university bought about two years ago, Pederson said.
   Other UA projects include roof repairs and replacement for the physics building, Kimpel Hall, the health, physical education and recreation building, Memorial Hall, the Engineering Hall, the Human Environmental Sciences building, the music building, the Old Fieldhouse, the plant science building, and the Speech and Hearing Clinic, he said.
   In Little Rock, UALR’s $4 million in stimulus funds will be used to replace an aging and inefficient heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system at Fribourgh Hall on the west side of campus, Anderson said. The building is about 70,000 square feet and includes science classrooms, labs and faculty offices.
   “Fribourgh is 36 years old, and it’s in bad need of a new HVAC system with much more energyefficient equipment,” he said.
   The project is expected to save UALR money by reducing energy costs, Anderson said. It’s at the top of a list of more than $9 million in proposed projects UALR officials submitted to the Higher Education Department in early March.
   ASU will use its $4 million for several projects on the Jonesboro campus, including renovations and upgrades to physics, chemistry and biology labs, Provost Daniel Howard said.
   “We have labs that date back to the early 1970s that we have not been able to upgrade,” he said. “This is a tremendous infusion of $4 million. It has both immediate and long-lasting impact for our university.”
   ASU also plans to replace an aging boiler that serves several buildings on campus, upgrade elevators, and install more energyefficient windows in one of the residence halls, he said.
   UCA plans to make its $3 million in stimulus funds “stretch as far as possible” across several projects, said Jeff Pitchford, UCA’s vice president for university and government relations.
   Earlier this year, UCA submitted 47 proposed projects to the Higher Education Department. Among the top priorities are replacing roofs on the Burdick Business Administration building, Stadium Park Apartments and McCastlin Hall, which is one of the oldest buildings on campus, he said.
   Twenty-two buildings, including several dormitories, will be waterproofed, and more energyefficient lighting will be installed in several buildings.
   “It’s going to fund some projects that have been on our wish list for a while, but we’ve never had enough money for,” he said.
   UCA will request bids for the projects as soon as possible.
   “Hopefully, in between 30 and 60 days, we’ll have crews here doing this work,” Pitchford said.
   At Philander Smith College in Little Rock, construction already is under way on several projects designed to cut energy costs, said Walter M. Kimbrough, the college’s president. This spring, officials completed a full assessment of campus facilities and upgrades needed to improve energy efficiency.
   The college’s $500,000 share of the stimulus money will help pay for those projects, which total about $1.2 million.
   “This helps us jump-start what we’re trying to do immediately, and then there will be some savings for us as well over time. It was perfect timing for us,” Kimbrough said.
   While many of the college’s buildings were either built or renovated within the past decade, many weren’t built with energyefficient features, Kimbrough said. Lighting systems campuswide have been replaced this summer, and new heating and air-conditioning units are being installed in some of the older buildings, which date back 40 or 50 years.
   The projects are expected to save the college more than $100,000 in reduced energy bills annually, he said.
   “That money makes a big impact for us,” Kimbrough said. “We’ll be able to apply our stimulus funds immediately.”
   Henderson State University at Arkadelphia will use its $2.9 million in stimulus funding for campus renovations to Foster Hall, as well as energy-efficiency renovations to heating, ventilating and air-conditioning units, and lighting systems, said Charles L. Welch, HSU president.
   At ASU-Mountain Home, the funds will be used to replacing a heating, ventilating and air-conditioning system and make other energy-saving changes. The school also will replace carpet in hightraffic areas that “has deteriorated to a point of being a safety issue,” said John Davidson, vice chancellor for administrative affairs.
   “We expect that these modifications would decrease energy consumption and provide the college with cost savings that would exceed the initial investment within the next five to six years,” he said.
   “Unfortunately, we do not have the cash on hand to make these modifications currently and maintain sufficient cash flow for operations.”
   Matt DeCample, the governor’s spokesman, said that while the governor couldn’t quantify the jobs this batch of recovery funds would create, he estimated that “hundreds would likely be helped, both in job creation and creating work that could help retain other jobs.” 
  

 Information for this article was contributed by Michael R. Wickline of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Julie Stewart for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Stimulus funding
Gov. Mike Beebe today announced the distribution of $42.5 million of America Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds for highereducation institutions and $26.6 million in funding or potential funding for other Arkansas projects.

SOURCE: Gov. Mike Beebe’s offi ce Arkansas Democrat-Gazette