The UA Science and Technology Park will nearly double in size and its existing space will be upgraded, the Arizona Board of Regents decided on Friday.
At the board meeting in Tempe, the regents allowed the UA to begin negotiations on a land deal that would add about 1,100 state-owned acres to the southside park. The desired land is adjacent to the park, which is located near Interstate 10 and South Rita Road.
The 1,345-acre park has a UA optics lab, a technology conference center and 21 high-tech industries, such as IBM, Raytheon and Imation. Currently, only 345 acres are developed, but plans to add more offices and labs, a hotel and conference center and retail outlets would necessitate future construction on the current and extra land.
The existing space should be filled by 2015. Officials do not yet have a price tag for the future acreage.
In other Regents business:
* New UA head football coach John Mackovic's five-year, $800,000 contract was approved.
* A group of UA English graduate teaching assistants spoke to the Board about the low pay and high workloads of graduate TAs. The students proposed a tuition waiver for graduate students who teach classes.
* The Highland Commons complex, which would house campus health and disability resource centers, received approval for its next stage of planning. Construction on the commons is expected to begin in December and last until June 2003. The project should cost about $19.1 million.
