UA Sierra Vista campus gets $8 million from state
PHOENIX - The UA's Sierra Vista branch received a boost yesterday when a state panel approved an allocation of more than $8 million for a new academic and technology building on the campus.
The 53,000 square-foot facility will be built with 150 state-of-the-art computer stations as well as student classrooms, said Randy Groth, dean of the branch campus. Groth added that the Sierra Vista public school system and Cochise Community College will also use the new building.
The Senate Appropriations Committee determined that the University of Arizona Sierra Vista campus deserves the allocation because, unlike other state schools, it has been privately funded since becoming an official branch campus in 1995.
The chairman of the committee, Sen. Randall Gnant, R-Scottsdale, said he was impressed that Groth was asking only for state assistance instead of a "handout" to fund the entire campus.
To date, nearly $5 million in private funding has been raised by the University Foundation of Sierra Vista to set up the school's facilities.
The technology building bill was discussed but not voted on by the committee last Wednesday, when Gnant asked Groth and other campus officials if they could reduce their asking price.
However, with the recent announcement that the state might have more than $250 million in unexpected revenues, the committee passed the proposal yesterday by a unanimous vote.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Gus Arzberger, D-Wilcox, said he is excited about the educational opportunity SB 1065 brings to people of Southeast Arizona.
"This allows people in Cochise County to get a college education," Arzberger said.
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