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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels August 11, 2004 SOU hopes to fund top priorities By Bill Choy Ashland Daily Tidings Southern Oregon University is hopeful three proposed capital construction projects for the 2005-2007 biennium will become a priority for the state Legislature next year. The State Board of Higher Education prioritized 35 individual university and systemwide projects at its meeting last week. The SOU project, seeking $7.8 million for a new classroom building in Medford that would be a combined effort with Rogue Community College, was prioritized at number 13. A Theatre Arts Building expansion and remodeling project with a price tag of $4.2 million was ranked 18th, and a project seeking $4 million in planning money for an SOU Science Building renovation and addition came in at number 29. "I'm very pleased, although we would have liked to see them on top of the list," said Ron Bolstad, vice president for administration and finance at SOU. "We believe the board realizes that these projects are a high priority for Southern, but in this financial environment, it remains to be seen what happens next." After Gov. Ted Kulongoski finishes his state budget proposal in September, he will submit it to the Legislature in January. Bolstad said state cuts over the years in education make it unclear which projects will be approved. In the past, the Legislature has not followed the priority list to a T, and has been known to skip around if a project meets a perceived need, such as economic development, Bolstad said. "I'm hoping to get all three approved, but you never know," he said. "It's absolutely a wait-and-see situation." The proposed Medford project is a 30,000-square-foot building downtown on South Riverside Avenue, located on RCC property. Currently, SOU offers courses at the 10,000-square-foot Mary Phipps Center. The university also uses space at Rogue Valley Mall, Crater High School in Central Point, South and North Medford high schools and RCC in Medford. Kulongoski has encouraged cooperation projects between two-and four-year schools, which Bolstad believes helped the project gain a higher priority. The theater expansion would help ease overcrowding in the building and help better meet the needs of students, due to a sharp increase in theater arts majors. When the facility first opened in 1982, it was designed to house 60 majors, This spring, there were 180 students who were either pre-majoring or majoring in theater arts. The science building proposal is $4 million in planning money for a 92,000-square-foot addition and 82,000-square-foot expansion of the SOU Science Building. The university hopes to begin work on the $36 million project in 2007, Bolstad said. The original building was constructed in 1959, with the addition in 1967. Statewide, the project receiving top priority was a new steam plant and utility switch building at Oregon State University. OSU is asking for $55 million for the project. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams