The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia on Tuesday endorsed more than $39 million in FY 2022 capital projects that will enhance research, outreach and teaching opportunities across the University of Georgia.
“We greatly appreciate the enthusiastic support of the Board of Regents for these important capital projects,” said UGA President Jere W. Morehead. “This investment directly benefits the students, faculty and staff who will learn and research in these new facilities, while also fueling our expanding research enterprise and creating new knowledge to share statewide through our land-grant mission, advancing the state of Georgia as a whole.”
The largest UGA capital project endorsed by the Regents is $21.7 million for construction of a new facility in the Poultry Science Complex, which would double the size of the department’s existing teaching lab space and help to attract and retain world-class researchers. The project, to be matched with $27.6 million in private donations, is another step in UGA’s ongoing initiative to modernize Science Hill and aims to establish the Department of Poultry Science as the preeminent global source for poultry research—an essential component of Georgia’s economy.
The poultry science facility already has received planning funds in the current fiscal year’s budget, with another $3.7 million programmed for inclusion in the Fiscal Year 2023 Capital Budget Request for equipment.
Other projects endorsed Tuesday by the Regents include:
- $6.7 million to support the university’s ongoing initiative to build, renovate and modernize hundreds of thousands of square feet devoted to research and innovation in and around the section of campus known as Science Hill. The capital plan emphasizes the development of research opportunities in the STEM fields—science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
- $5 million of this investment will support upgrading Science Hill infrastructure, while another $1.7 million will go toward planning and design.
- $5.7 million to purchase equipment to support Phase II of the university’s STEM Research Building. STEM-II will expand laboratories for chemistry, engineering and other material scientists, provide opportunities for graduate students to engage in projects with real-world relevance, and enable innovative and translational interdisciplinary research.
- $5 million to fund construction of a multidisciplinary greenhouse complex to support research by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences in Athens. Today’s research greenhouses are advanced plant growth facilities with precise environmental controls that allow faculty to conduct a wide range of agriculturally important studies throughout the year.
Now that the Regents have endorsed these projects, the capital plan will be considered for possible inclusion in the Governor’s FY 2022 state budget proposal.