Medical lab renovations among University of Iowa plans approved

A series of items were approved by the Iowa Board of Regents Sept. 15, including permission to proceed with planning for renovation of a medical lab and center to conduct pediatric cancer and epilepsy research, construction of a 10,000-square-foot addition to an existing generator facility and $7 million to go toward the College of Nursing, among other plans. Second floor renovations at the Medical Laboratories Building and Medical Research Center will cost an estimated $6.6 to $7 million and would "incorporate faculty offices, support rooms and shared equipment zones," according to the agenda documents. Funded by the UIHC Building Usage Funds, the university gained approval for a $44.8 million plan to move UIHC's emergency power away from the main hospital. Constructed in 2016, UIHC will expand upon its current emergency generator facility with a 10,000-square-foot addition to the north. It will house three additional emergency generators and should be completed by Fall 2024. An additional emergency generator facility will be built in the future to accomodate the new inpatient tower. Just over $11 million will go toward UIHC operating room renovations for new x-ray equipment, HVAC modifications and deferred maintenance on the Iowa Advanced Technology Laboratories.

Five-year capital plans

The University of Iowa and the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics both received substantial budget increases to their Five-Year Capital Plan for Other Funds. A new $212 million medical education building replacement is responsible for the bulk of the University of Iowa's budget increase, which now sits at $659 million and is up 72% from last year. Other significant contributions to the plan come from an $80 million Iowa Memorial Union modernization, $59 million to improve College of Medicine facilities and $56 million to maintain track, field hockey, softball and baseball facilities. UIHC's capital plan increased to $786 million, up 51% from last year. The vast majority of the budget will go toward a $621 million inpatient bed tower, which was approved in January. Building Usage Funds, UIHC bonds, and gifts and grants will fund the project over five years. It has a planned completion date for 2025 and will enable other projects on campus like an academic building for speech and hearing and a replacement water tower next to Kinnick Stadium, according to Senior Vice President for Finance and Operations Rod Lehnertz. In February, the Richard O. Jacobson Foundation gifted $70 million to the project, the largest donation in University of Iowa history. The inpatient tower is part of a long-term UIHC goal to modernize facilities and replace old infrastructure. Vertical expansion of the John Pappajohn Pavilion (JPP), which will add a 24-bed intensive care unit on the ninth floor and a "mechanical penthouse" on the tenth floor to an existing eight-story center, will cost the universtiy up to $95 million. The new inpatient bed tower and vertical expansion of the JPP accounts for approximately 90% of the five-year UIHC plan budget.

During the meeting, Mr. Lehnertz said the school has razed 200,000-square-feet of obsolete buildings in the last three years, and there are plans to raze 300,000 more in the next five years.

State funding requests

The University of Iowa will receive $12 million in state support for two programs, pending approval from the Iowa Legislature The College of Nursing will look to renovate and increase simulation training space for its 11-room clinical simulation lab, as well as hire 10 new faculty to the college. The university believes this will add 48 nursing students to the program per year, and will increase the nursing workforce throughout Iowa, said UI President Barbara Wilson during her remarks. Iowa will receive $7 million of the allocated $12 million for this plan. A $5 million expansion of the university's First Gen Hawks (FGH) pilot program, that helps first-in-family college-goers adapt to school through peer mentoring and individualized coaching, would also be expanded with the addition of 250 needs-based scholarships, as well expanding the program to help throughout the student's entire four-year stay – not just the first year. The program will now increase by 150 students. Agenda documents stated that students who participated in the First Gen Hawks program were 92% more like to enroll in their second year, compared to similar students who did not participate.