UA will receive over $14 million yearly to build new research buildings

In what UA President Pete Likins called "incredibly good news," the Arizona State Legislature passed a bill Thursday that will bring an estimated $440 million to all three state universities for the creation of three research facilities.

The bill, which Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano is expected to sign, directs the state to give the university $14.2 million annually from fiscal year 2007 to 2030.

Napolitano has ten days to sign the bill before it automatically becomes law.

"We're very pleased. The University of Arizona can now start to move ahead and · construct four research buildings of tremendous importance to the whole state," said Greg Fahey, associate vice president for government relations.

The money will go toward the construction of the Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Drachman Hall, and another medical research building. All three buildings will be located north of East Speedway Boulevard near the Arizona Health Sciences Center.

Additionally, some of the money will go toward the expansion of the Chemistry building.

"We're very excited about (the funding for the research facilities)," said Anne Cress, associate dean for research at the College of Medicine.

The funding, which comes during a time of economic downturn for the state, signals a shift in the legislature's posture toward the state's universities.

"It's a spectacular change of policy. (The universities) are an investment that yields a return," Likins said.

Democratic Senator Linda Aguirre said the legislature recognized the importance of the investment as a way to ensure the success of state universities, as well as the state itself.

"I know the value of what (the universities) were trying to do in promoting the legislature (to support the buildings' financing)," she said.

The buildings on campus will be part of a larger scale project that will incorporate all three universities. ASU will get $14.5 million and NAU will receive about $6 million annually.

According to Cress, the research that will be conducted in the new buildings will be a break from tradition, as researchers from many diverse fields will be working together and exchanging knowledge.

"The researchers can come together · and try to attack some of these diseases through an interdisciplinary approach to science," she said.

While the buildings will help the university advance in the field of medicine, they will also bring in federal grant money and money-technology transfers.

"I expect that these buildings will help us to increase our research funding dramatically," Cress said.

Additionally, Likins said the new facilities will help keep faculty at UA.

Recently, four chemistry professors announced their plans to leave the university and head to the Georgia Institute of Technology, citing the lack of adequate facilities.

"If we can't provide (facilities), then we lose our faculty," Likins said.

The bill originally asked the universities for 30 percent of the profits generated by any future transfer of university research to companies to given back to the state.

However, a compromise late last week increased the state's share of the profits to about $17 million a year. The increase was aimed at helping to offset the state's debt.

When the legislative session ended last week, the universities walked away unscathed, as legislatures did not cut from their budgets.

Likins called the move a relief, though he said it was odd to consider it as such.

"(The Universities) have been cut so severely in the last two years that I confess that it is a great relief," he said.

Fahey agreed and said that the legislature showed foresight in not cutting into the universities further.

"It's a terrific sign that even during difficult economic times the legislature didn't cut us directly again," he said.

÷ The Associated Press contributed to this article