Univ. of Arkansas-Little Rock Seeks $32M for New Nanotech Center

DALLAS - The University of Arkansas in Little Rock will ask the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees next month for a $31.6 million bond issue to build a new nanotechnology center and other facilities on the Little Rock campus.

The UALR Board of Visitors met in special session on Monday to endorse the four-project capital improvement plan to be financed from the bond proceeds. The UA trustees will consider the projects at their meeting on Sept. 4.

The 14-member Board of Visitors provides oversight and guidance for the Little Rock campus. The Board of Trustees is the governing body for the various campuses in the UA system. The projects must be accepted by the UA trustees and the bonds must be approved by the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board before the debt can be issued

The bonds would be supported by student facility fees. The UALR board will seek an increase in student fees that would make them the same as those levied at the main UA campus in Fayetteville. UALR students pay a $1 facilities fee each semester. The capital improvement proposal would increase the mandatory fee to $4 per semester.

The university system's revenue bonds are rated Aa3 by Moody's Investors Service.

The projects include an $8 million nanotechnology science center that would be connected to the existing science and engineering buildings, a $9 million expansion of the existing student center to house all student services, a $2.5 million facility for the nursing and other health programs, and a $4 million recreation and intramural sports complex that would also be open to the public.

The remainder of the proceeds will be devoted to a 500-unit residential unit for honors students approved by the UALR board in July.

"We're going to do something historical that I think will move the school to a different level," said board chairman Dean Kumpuris.

UALR chancellor Joel Anderson said the school is taking advantage of favorable interest rates and its expanded bonding capacity as existing debt matures. He said the proposed capital improvement program is "an unprecedented opportunity to speed up the capital project clock for the campus."

The school is looking for other funds in addition to the bond proceeds for the projects, he said.

"You can rest assured that the university will leave no stone unturned in seeking other stimulus funding and federal grants to help with these projects that are important to the central Arkansas economy," Anderson said.

The school has submitted applications for a total of $23 million in federal stimulus funding and grants from the National Institutes of Health, said Joan Duffy, director of media relations at UALR.

"If we receive the money, we will use the federal funds for the nanotechnology center and allocate the bond proceeds to other capital projects not on this current list," she said. "We don't intend to reduce the size of the bond issue."

Duffy said the school's existing nanotechnology center is a success and needs more space.

"Nanotechnology is the science of little bitty things, and this is an applied science program," she said. "We are taking this science and developing products and businesses."

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